Return of The Fluff-ful Eight
by WolFang1011
Summary: Submissions for GrayZa Week '18. Edited by AmyNChan.
1. Chapter 1

**Playlist**

"What's the song that always makes you dance?"

"Smooth Criminal." Gray didn't even have to think about it. "Gets me every time."

Erza raised an eyebrow. "Oh? That's something I'd like to see."

"I charge extra for stripping."

"Nothing I haven't already seen. You've spoiled us all by doing it for free all the time."

Having nothing to say to that, Gray sipped his coffee. Tactical retreats were always made better with coffee, especially in shops with an unlimited refill policy. Helped him formulate strategies and such.

"What about you?" he asked, changing the subject. "What gets Titania twirling?"

Even in a coffee shop, Erza had tea. She raised the saucer halfway, picked up the cup and sipped quietly. Not even her worst enemies could say that Erza Scarlet wasn't proper.

"There are too many," she replied after putting both cup and saucer back on the table. "The one that comes to mind right now is _Dancing Queen_ , honestly."

Gray chuckled. The song was just... _so_ Erza. "Classic. But do you have, like, a playlist for dancing songs or something?"

"Doesn't everyone?"

"No, Erza. No they don't."

She tilted her head, considering this. "But playlists are so convenient. Why wouldn't everybody have playlists?"

"I wouldn't know, really."

"You have playlists, right?"

"A few, yeah."

"Are they, or are they not, convenient?"

Gray sipped his coffee again and shrugged. "I guess. Yeah. They can be. I've never really thought much about it."

Erza smiled and placed her chin on her palm. "Sometimes, when I have nothing else to do, I'll make a playlist or two. I think it's fun."

"Fun how?"

"It's just... how do I explain it..." She closed her eyes and hummed. "It's like... every song on a playlist is something you like, right? So it's a reflection of how you feel. That's why I just really love mix tapes."

"Why's that?"

"Because when you make them for a person, you're putting in songs that _mean something_ to you. It's intimate in a way. Like you're telling someone how you feel with music." She smiled. "I remember others doing it, but cassettes have given way to online playlists now."

Gray always knew Erza was a sap – it was obvious, really – but this was new. The idea stuck with him though, and he kept turning it over after getting home.

 _That's such a dopey thing to do, though_ , he thought as he looked through the songs on his device. _Make a playlist for someone to tell them how I feel? Who_ does _that? Pfft._

Later, as he was reading article after article about why mix tapes were popular and what the entire movement was about, he told himself that he'd never do it, that it was for romantics and poets. _And I am none of those, nope._

He went to bed that night wondering what songs he'd put on a mix tape for Erza. It was a harmless little fantasy, and within a half hour he had a complete list. That made him happy, but soon, Gray realised that he was doomed.

 _I need help_ , he thought and picked up the phone. He waited, listening to the dial tone. It took seven rings before his call was answered.

"Hello?"

"What're you doing?"

"Wuzasleep. Whaddaya want?"

Gray glanced at the clock on the nightstand. A quarter past one. He shrugged. _All's fair in love and music_. "I need your help to make a mix tape."

Loke was silent a while. "Right now?"

"No. Tomorrow."

"Fine." A more defeated tone Gray had never before heard from his friend. "Now let me sleep."

And he promptly hung up. Gray didn't mind though. Early next morning, with a box of ten empty cassettes, he appeared on Loke's doorstep, nervous and excited in equal measure. He'd never done anything so overtly romantic before, but Loke laughed it off.

"Love, my friend, is a sickness," he said. "A wonderful sickness, but a sickness nonetheless. Makes us act all out-of-character. Don't sweat it."

Gray just rolled his eyes. "Don't worry. I'm too cool to be sweating."

"That's the spirit." Loke smirked and then gestured grandly at his cassette deck. "Behold! The object of your salvation! Gray, meet Josephine!"

Gray wanted to smack his forehead. "You... you named it–"

"Uh-uh-uh." Loke waggled his finger at him. " _She's_ a woman, Gray. We treat her with respect."

"Why are you like this?"

"I was kicked in the head as a child," he replied with a grin and clapped his hands. "Well then, let's get you on your way to making your first tape, shall we?"

It was a relatively straightforward process, or so Loke said. "Stick the blank tape in the right side, and the one you're copying from in the left. Queue up the song you want and hit play on the left, and hit play and record on the right, and bingo! Song copied."

Gray found it somewhat more challenging than that.

Timing the songs so that the pauses weren't too long was the most important thing. Sometimes he stopped recording before the song had finished playing. Sometimes he waited too long to press the damn record button.

While Loke was somewhat appreciative of the list he'd compiled, there were too many songs.

"There's a kind of magic in sticking to analogue limits," he said. "You have to tailor it accordingly. There's a flow. You have the general atmosphere down. You just have to figure out the order, so it communicates what you're tryna say."

And after five hours of hard labour – during which six cassettes had been wasted – Gray finally held the lucky seventh in his hand, both proud and relieved. Twelve tracks, six on either side. Hopefully, it was good enough. Loke, after listening to the finished product over lunch, said that it was pretty good for a first timer. Then he grinned.

"That's what she said," he said, and started snickering at his own joke. Gray smacked him upside the head with a rolled up magazine.

But with the completion of the tape came the hardest part: actually handing it over.

On his way to meet her that evening, Gray found a sudden weakness in his knees, a tightness in his throat, and a fogginess in his mind. He was nervous, he concluded, but he couldn't see the reason why.

 _You'd think after twenty years of existing on this planet, I'd have maxed out on embarrassment. Hahahahano. Fuck my life._

He arrived early and proceeded to consume five cups of coffee in fifteen minutes. Erza was never late, but his nervousness had pushed him to get there first, not that it achieved anything. He realised belatedly that all the coffee was counterproductive to combating anxiety, and when Erza appeared at the cafe, he stood up bolt upright and almost said, "Good evening, Ma'am!"

His superior sense of self-control prevented that from happening, and instead he said, "Good evening, Erza!"

She smiled and sat down across from him. "At ease, soldier. You may sit. You don't have to stand for me."

"I knew that," he said quickly and sat down, debating whether he ought to give it to her now or save it for when they parted for the night. The cassette in his pocket was the main source of his anxiety, and he kept bouncing his leg up and down while they chatted. Being with her took away some of the tension – he couldn't help but melt a bit when he saw her smile. It relaxed him enough and he was able to carry a decent conversation.

But soon enough, the bill was paid and the table was cleared. It was time for them to head their separate ways. Gray kept telling himself that giving her the tape wouldn't give him a seizure but he just couldn't make himself believe.

"Well, I should be going now," she said with a smile. "Same time tomorrow?"

"Yeah." _Give it to her you fool! Do it now!_ He nodded. "I'll be here."

"All right. See you tomorrow, Gray. Good night."

"Night." _Chicken. Chicken-man. Go die in a ditch. Here lies Gray Fullbuster, died of embarrassment while giving his girlfriend a mixtape. I am such a failure, Dad forgive me–_

He clutched the cassette in his pocket as she turned to walk away. _Good God man, get your shit together! Consider it challenging her!_

That did the trick.

"Erza, wait!"

She hadn't taken more than three steps when she stopped and turned around, puzzled. "Gray?"

 _Hallelujah! Now or never, boy!_

He pulled out the cassette, almost dropped it, caught it before it hit the ground, swore under his breath and held it out to her, completely and utterly panicked.

"I, uh, I kinda sorta made you this," he said as she blinked at the tape. "It's my first try and I'm sorry if it sucks, but, uh, I wanted to give this to you."

Erza looked up at him and he looked away, scratching his cheek. I can't do this please take the tape–

"I see," she said, but he could hear the laughter in her voice. Looking back, he found her smiling warmly and it almost did him in right there and then. She took it from him and stepped close. "This is very sweet, Gray."

And just like that, all his anxiety left him.

"I'll give you a review tomorrow, okay?"

And just like that, all his anxiety returned.

How he managed to sleep that night, Gray didn't know. His brain just wouldn't shut up. He woke up a nervous wreck, wondering how much Erza hated it. He rationalised that if she really liked it, she would've rung him up and told him.

 _She hates it. It sucks. Not surprising, considering this is my first try. I should've stuck to flowers. Or cake. I know she likes cake, why did I fuck around with things I don't understand fuck me sideways–_

All day he spent like one getting ready to face the firing squad. He shaved, cleaned his house, organised his papers, wrote his will and decided to sign up for organ donation. When the time came to get going, he looked at the watch and sighed.

"Time to face the music, Fullbuster," he told himself, but stopped and frowned. "I hate myself."

But with the courage of one about to face certain death, Gray marched on over to the coffee house and drank ten cups of coffee in ten minutes – his personal best. He was wondering whether it was possible to drink coffee to death when Erza showed up.

She was smiling, though she carried a sheaf of papers in one hand. Gray squinted, instantly on alert. It was only recently that he'd learnt the full extent of her obsession with music. She kept detailed notes on every band or artist she liked – who sang what, where, when, why and how. It'd put any journalist to shame. Notes regarding the dissection of lyrics, instruments used, scale of voice. _Everything_. It was maniacal. Somewhat frightening, even.

If the gauze of hyperactivity was stripped away though, Gray thought it was kind of cute. Just a girl being passionate about something she enjoyed. Nothing wrong with that. Only Erza Scarlet could bring that level of dedication to anything. In fact, she pursued music with the same passion that Juvia used to stalk him.

 _I take it back. There's nothing cute about that at all. God help me._

"Hi," Erza said as she sat down, her face flushed beautifully. "I know I promised you a review, but I got carried away and wrote an essay." She placed the papers on the table and cleared her throat. Before Gray could get a word in, she was off to the races.

"I see you told a story with your songs, Gray. 'Running down a dream' seemed as though it were the foundation. A man is living his life by his own rules and chasing down a dream. 'Strutter' is the inciting incident, when a beautiful woman enters his life. She turns his world upside down with her confidence and he does not know what to do. 'A Little Less Conversation' is the first song that had an overtly sexual nature."

She paused. "It seemed to set off some friction or an explosive spark? 'Slow Ride' is another spark song, but slower and more intimate. 'You Shook Me All Night Long' is also a spark song, this one is not so much about having sex, but about how the sex is so enjoyable. 'Free Bird's entire message was 'this is how I am, take it or leave it'. The song's lyrics state that the singer can't be changed, so I figure it means 'This is great and all, but if you think I'm changing for it, then you are mistaken'. What I got from 'Stray' was that there were no regrets, everything that's happened thus far isn't seen as negative. 'Here I Go Again' was more of an 'I'm alone again', so given the context it might mean that Stray was him leaving to do his own thing for a while?"

She tilted her head, apparently questioning herself. "But it's victorious, so there's still that 'no regret' theme that's been running. 'Faithfully' seems to be a returning song. After they've gone their separate ways, they reunite or are at least remaining faithful to the one they've left behind. 'Coming Home' seems fairly self-explanatory to me. It's the actual reuniting as well as a challenge. Are they going to make it work this time? 'Hold the Line' seems to say 'finally, we're here to stay'. Now that they've gone their separate ways and have come back, they're willing to stick together and stay. 'Two Tickets to Paradise' is their 'happily ever after' song. They leave the convoluted way they got together and broke apart and got back together behind in order to truly start their lives together."

Erza looked up at him and smiled. "And that's all I got. Was I close?"

As the waitress refilled his cup and brought Erza her usual tea, Gray gawked wordlessly at her. How in the _fuck_ could she just analyse everything with a straight face while he was dying inside?

"I, yeah," he said eventually. "Yeah you nailed it, pretty much. Wow."

Smiling triumphantly, Erza tackled her tea. "I spent all night listening to it. I wanted to do it justice."

"Did you... like it?"

"Gray, I loved it. It was the highlight of my entire day."

 _Don't say such embarrassing things so casually damn it!_

Gray chuckled nervously and stared down at his coffee. "R-really?"

"Of course. You made something for me, and I had a wonderful time with it. Your hard work shows. And as a thank you, I made you this."

He looked up to see her pushing a cassette tape towards him across the table. She smiled at him softly.

"I heard what you had to say," Erza whispered. "Consider this my reply. There are three parts, with four tracks in each, and each part has a name." She tucked a coil of hair behind her ear. "Don't ask me what they are, Gray. I'll never be able to tell you."

He wanted to ask what she meant by that, why she couldn't tell him, what was stopping her, but he looked up from the cassette at her and understood.

Making a tape was like writing a letter – there's a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting over. You were essentially using some else's poetry to share your feelings, always a tricky business. A good compilation tape, like breaking up, was hard to do. She wanted to tell him something, and she had done so in her own way. Whether he grasped the message or not was up to him.

So Gray nodded. "All right."

That night, after coming home, Gray fished out his old Walkman. It had been a while since he'd laid eyes on the thing and he was relieved when he found it still worked. He found he couldn't wait until after he was done with dinner – he was too nervous anyway – and stuck the stuck cassette in. With a nervous heart, Gray sat down to listen to Erza's reply.

It started out with 'Dark Necessities' and Gray found himself relaxing and clicking his fingers. She'd followed it up with 'High Hopes', 'Eminence Font' and 'Zephyr Song', all classics. That was the first part. The second part was newer, consisting of 'The Dare', 'Lust For Life', 'I Wanna Be Yours' and 'Quit'. It was slower and steamier and it made him very hot under the collars. Gray gulped as the final four started, and he was hit again by tracks he recognised and loved: 'Every Breath You Take', 'You're My Home' and 'Nothing Else Matters'.

Gray enjoyed these immensely. As the familiar tune of 'You Look Wonderful' started playing, he closed his eyes and leaned back to properly experience the last song. But he was ill-prepared for what came at him.

It was common knowledge that Erza Scarlet's singing voice was just as devastating as her sword arm. Music was still important to her, though, and she hummed and swayed with it whenever something she liked was on. Gray only remembered her singing voice from a drunken karaoke performance from many years ago. He hadn't heard her sing since, but that was one memory he wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon.

However, everything changed and records were broken all the time. So when Gray heard Erza's voice singing him the classic song, he felt his heart trying to break out of its confines and sat up straight in his armchair. To say it was a pleasant surprise was an understatement, and he couldn't even formulate a thought.

Only when the music stopped did he start breathing properly. He rewound the tape and listened to the song again. Then again. He listened to it until he knew every pause and every breath. Her voice was gentle, warm, and incredibly affectionate. Why she didn't sing more often he didn't know, but that was not the question he wanted answered at the moment.

Gray glanced at his wristwatch. Half past ten. Not that late. He took out the earbuds and leapt out of his chair. A sudden wave of energy crashed into him, and he left the house at a run. Time couldn't be wasted, not now.

Erza had told him that a mixtape was intimate, but she didn't tell him just how intimate it could be. It seemed like she'd just bared his soul to him without saying a word. Had he done the same? Is that what she heard? The thought scared him and thrilled him and filled him with happiness.

But there was a place where words had to be said directly. He supposed he could've called, but that just didn't seem personal enough. But as he was climbing the tree outside her apartment complex and gingerly walking along the branch that led to her bedroom window, Gray felt that he was overreacting just a little bit.

 _Nah._

He knocked on her window, waited, and when she opened it, dressed in pajamas, hair down and hairbrush in hand, her mouth agape in shock and worry, Gray found himself grinning.

"Hey," he said. "I just finished your tape."

"Gray! That branch can't support your weight!"

"It's fine, I ran here. Burnt all that holiday weight."

She stepped aside. "Get in. Right now."

"Yes, yes."

He'd been in her room before on multiple occasions, but never had he entered in so grand a manner. _Fit for a rom-com movie_ , he thought as Erza closed the window.

"What're you doing here?" she asked him. "That was so dangerous!"

All his anxiety was gone, replaced with a cheeky recklessness. Gray didn't know what had happened, whether Erza's singing voice had brainwashing powers or not, but he felt good. And he smiled at her and sad, "You should sing more."

Her cheeks coloured immediately and she looked down at the floor. It was the most adorable thing.

"I spent a lot of time overthinking whether I should've done that," she said. "Made me start worrying you wouldn't like it."

Gray stepped up to her and took her in his arms. Erza squeaked in surprise but held on to her hairbrush somehow.

"I loved it," he whispered into her hair, rubbing her back. "And I loved the tape."

After a while, she wrapped her arms around him as well.

"I'm glad," she replied.

"Still won't tell me the names of the parts?"

"No."

"It's all right. I think I figured it out."

"You did?"

"Mhmm." He pulled away slightly to smile at her. "But it's something I can only show you."

"How?"

Gray cupped her face and pressed his lips to her forehead. "Like that."

By then, Erza's face had fully embraced the colour of her hair, and she spluttered something incoherent. Gray chuckled and kissed her lips softly.

Sometimes, no words are required to say what needs to be said. She'd shown him that. He was just returning the favour.

Upon separating, he lingered and brushed his nose against hers before kissing her again. She smiled into this one. Then a thought occurred to him and he pulled her close and placed his forehead against hers.

"Say, Erza, you wouldn't have a playlist for making out, would you?"

Erza just grinned.


	2. Chapter 2

**Cooking Adventure**

Like everything else, this too started with good intentions. Gray had merely wanted to do something nice for Erza. She was always in charge of the kitchen, even leaving food for him when she went on missions. So Gray, for once, wanted to cook her something. A nice gesture, something to greet her with when she came home from the quest she was currently on.

He realised far too late that the kitchen was a very, _very_ dangerous place. Blenders, ovens, knives – the kitchen was a torture room, and cooking was a death trap.

 _I shouldn't be allowed to do nice things_ , he thought sourly as he tried to crack his sixth egg. The five that had come before it he really couldn't use, considering the damn things had exploded all over him as soon as he tried to crack them. It looked _so_ fucking _easy_ when someone else did it!

This time, he didn't apply as much force and to his relief, the shell didn't shatter. Gray quickly cracked the egg and watched the beautiful white and yellow goop drop gloriously, silhouetted against the bright sunlight coming from the window.

So happy was he at having successfully cracked an egg that it took Gray five seconds to realise that he'd cracked it directly into the sink.

When he did, he stood there, reconsidering all of his life choices. It took great effort to not drop to his hands and knees in despair. He told himself that at least he knew the right pressure required to crack an egg without killing it. That was something, at least.

"Once more unto the egg, dear friend," he muttered in an effort to motivate himself. The instructions on the back of the box said he needed two eggs. That wouldn't be hard now. Hopefully.

His grand plan of baking a cake would bear fruit yet!

After successfully cracking two eggs, he added milk and whatever else was on the box into a bowl, mixed it up and put it into the oven. With that out of the way, he could move on to the other items he wanted to do.

Erza overall liked strawberry stuff, and a smoothie was easy enough, so Gray had gathered up the ingredients the day before: strawberries, ice milk, vanilla, yoghurt, the whole thing. After removing the seeds from the strawberries, he took some ice cubes from the freezer, crushed them up and put all the things into the blender. He then pressed the blend button.

And everything splattered into his face.

"God fucking dammit," he snarled as he turned the blasted thing off, wiped the slush from his face and realised that he'd forgotten to put on the lid, resulting in the blender bathing him and the surrounding area in smoothie.

After washing his face and hair, Gray resigned himself to cleaning up. He was almost done with this when an absolutely awful smell assaulted his nostrils. Whipping around, he recognised that it was coming from the oven and his stomach almost dropped out of his ass.

"No no nono _nono_ ," he chanted desperately as he hopped over to the oven and pulled it open. The sight of a runny, chunky and overall disgusting looking blob greeted him, and Gray covered his face with his hands and groaned. He pulled out the bowl and chucked the miserable concoction out of the window before turning to the instructions on the back of the box.

"Doesn't make sense," he muttered as he read and re-read the instructions. "I followed these word for word..."

Only on his fourth read through did he realise that he hadn't even opened the box to put the cake mix in the bowl first.

Everything else had been chipping away at his enthusiasm and hope, but this was the final nail in the coffin. Gray put the box away, cleaned up the kitchen, took a bath, and sat down on his armchair, ready to die.

All he'd wanted was to put a smile on her face. Was that too much to ask? She took cooking so seriously, he thought he could at least make something rudimentary, something she'd appreciate. He told himself that it was the thought that mattered, but he had nothing to show for it.

"I shouldn't be allowed in the kitchen," he said with a sigh. The only other time he'd tried to cook, the stove wasn't working, so he'd tried to cook sausages on his clothes iron. It had not gone well. He chuckled at the memory. Given his pedigree in cooking, he figured he should've stuck to making sandwiches.

"Waitta minute!" he exclaimed as inspiration struck him. "I'll make sandwiches!"

Now that inspiration _had_ struck, Gray sprang from his chair and shot back into the kitchen. There was no way he could fuck up a sandwich. Of that he was confident.

Just as he'd finished making one, Gray heard the front door open.

"I'm home," Erza called out.

"And I'm in the kitchen."

"What're you doing in the kitchen?" she asked curiously as she strolled in, grocery bags in hand. "And why does it smell of strawberries in here?"

"I made you a sandwich," he replied, handing her his creation and taking the bags from her. He countered the strawberry question with another: "What's all this?"

"Oh I wanted to cook you dinner, but why sandwiches all of a sudden?"

"Well, you're always the one making stuff in here, so I thought I'd make you something for a change. I can't cook, but I can at least do this."

"Oh, Gray, that's so sweet."

He chuckled as he set about making one for himself. "I can be."

Erza sat herself on the counter and bit into her sandwich. "You needn't-"

Whatever she had to say next was forever lost to the ether for the very next sound she made was a small, strangled shriek. Gray looked up and saw her pull out a piece of paper that he'd forgotten to peel off from the cheese.

Considering the events of that day, this was a very small mishap. However, Erza's mortified look made him burst out laughing. She could have pulled out a finger from that sandwich and made the same face.

"At least you tried," she said quietly as she took over from his sandwich making. "I appreciate it, Gray."

"Yeah. That's good enough for me." Gray looked into the bag. "What's all this?"

"Parmesan cheese, garlic salt and dry fettuccine pasta." She smiled at him. "We have the rest. I felt like spaghetti tonight."

"Sounds good."

Watching Erza command the kitchen space was a truly awe-inspiring, if a bit frightening, event. She had masterful control over everything. She has lists and systems and timers and nobody was allowed to mess with anything while she was operating. Gray was lucky to have spectator rights.

 _Perks of being the boyfriend._

So he was present when the noodles caught on fire while boiling in the pot. Erza stood dumbfounded, trying to process what had just happened. Gray froze the whole thing before the smoke alarms went off.

"I guess fettuccine al burro is out," he said as Erza sifted through the debris of her hot pot, looking for clues. She was too engrossed in solving the mystery of the burning noodles to bother answering, so Gray went out and picked up his phone to order pizza for the night.

As he was placing his order, he saw Erza shoot out of the kitchen, get her laptop out and start typing away furiously. She was in post-mortem research mode. It wouldn't end until she'd pinned down the culprit behind the incident.

Leaving her to her devices, Gray went and sat down on the sofa. It had been... a remarkable day. That life could be so full of fails was new to him. Never had things gone to shit around him in such a spectacularly inspired fashion. It was pretty funny in hindsight.

Erza plopping down beside him with a sigh brought him out of his trance. She leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed again.

"Apparently, uncooked spaghetti is highly flammable," she said. "My best guess is that it caught fire from touching the sides of the hot pot because I put so little water in it. There was a whole website dedicated to people sharing images and videos of using uncooked spaghetti for lighting candles."

Gray snorted, shook his head and put an arm around her neck. "Accidents happen. It's okay."

"I know. It's just... this is something I became good at after years of practice. It stings my pride."

He kissed her temple gently and she snuggled into his side. Erza sighed.

"I just wanted to cook you dinner."

Her failure had frustrated her, dampening her spirits. Fortunately, Gray knew just how to make her smile.

"Lemme tell you what _I've_ been up to all day..."


	3. Chapter 3

**Rain**

"You really like the rain, don't you?"

Gray chuckled. The skies had opened up liberally, gracing the scotched earth with torrential rain. Nature wasn't being shy on the usual accompaniments either, with gales blowing hard, lightning crackling every few seconds and the deafening rumble of thunder. Dark clouds had hung over Magnolia since dawn, so Gray wasn't surprised at this afternoon squall.

"I was used to the cold, you know. Having trained in snow and all. Fiore summers in contrast almost melted me." He shrugged. "So whenever it rained, I'd get out, half naked as I was, and just kinda run around in it."

"I remember," Erza said, smiling. "You never caught a cold, so I did not have to punish you. Now are you sure you do not want to come under my umbrella?"

She'd magicked up an umbrella as soon as the first drops had started falling. Gray grimaced and shook his head as she offered him shelter again. He dug his hands into his pockets, closed his eyes and turned his face skywards.

"No thanks. Umbrellas are for losers."

"Are you calling me a loser?"

"A loser? You? Perish the thought."

The water was cold as ice, and the feeling of it running down his skin was one that pleased Gray to no end. His clothes were completely soaked and stuck to his body, which was something he didn't realise he'd missed. It'd been a while since he'd gotten caught in the rain. He'd forgotten just how fun it could be.

"I like the rain, too," Erza said and he turned to look at her. "Growing up... I never had the opportunity to play in it, but I would sit by a window and watch it." She reached out to catch a few drops and brought them close to her face, smiling. "After I came here, I was always too busy with training and work. Besides, I was too old to be frolicking in the rain at that time."

Gray hummed as he slicked his hair back. Though it was only 3 o' clock in the afternoon, the pouring rain and the chilly gusts of wind had nigh de-peopled the streets. They'd been on their way home after returning from a quest when the weather had turned. After being away a week, being greeted by rain was a pleasant thing.

The gutters running beside the pavements were flowing like small brooks, wending their way down streets and overflowing the bounds. A small depression in the pavement had collected some water, forming a puddle, and Gray smiled.

"So you've never splashed in a puddle?"

"No."

"Here's your chance, then."

"What?"

So Gray pushed Erza, who, with a muffled squeak, stepped right on the puddle, causing a mighty splash. She rounded on him, frowning, as if asking for an explanation. And Gray provided one by jumping in, splashing water all over her.

"Gray!" she protested indignantly. "What are you _doing_?"

But by then, Gray had gone giddy and did not care what the world thought. So he latched on to a nearby lamppost and swung around it, grinning widely as he came to a halt before Erza.

"I'm dancin' in the rain," he sang, and spun on the ball of his right foot, showering her further with stray water from his drenched clothes. She was not impressed.

"Gray-"

"Let the umbrella go, Erza."

"What?"

He stepped closer and came under the umbrella. She looked up at him and tilted her head.

"Let it go, Erza," Gray said quietly and covered her hand which held the umbrella. "Just let it all go."

"And do what?"

"Enjoy the rain." He smiled. "You're never too old."

She stared at him a moment and sighed. "If I get sick, I'll blame you."

" _Mais oui, mademoiselle_."

"Don't get cute with me."

"Perish the thought."

She still seemed uncertain when she sent the umbrella away to her closet.

"Now what?" Erza asked and crossed her hands over her chest. "We just stand here and get wet?"

"Where would be the fun in that?" Gray asked with a smirk. Before Erza could get a word in, he grabbed her wrist and twirled her, surprising her into a laugh, before pulling her to him. He placed a hand on her waist and tangoed cheek-to-cheek with her down the footpath, Erza now howling with laughter with every step.

With another twirl, Gray tugged her arms and placed his hands on her stomach and lifted her off her feet and spun her around before letting her down. Erza wrapped her arms around his neck and laughed into his chest. She was wetter than the crows perched on the lampposts, watching their antics.

"That was fun," she told him and looked up, eyes twinkling. "I really enjoyed that."

Gray smiled, watching the water droplets run down her face and neck. He leant in and pecked her forehead. Then her eyelids, the tip of her nose and her chin.

"I'm glad," he whispered. "Now let's get you home and out of those clothes before you catch a cold."

She hummed and placed her head on his shoulder. Gray put an arm around her waist and walked her home, where the wet clothes were hastily shed and thrown into the laundry basket before she led him into the shower.

The rain didn't let up all day and only grew more torrential as evening approached. From his bed, Gray watched the heavy droplets collide against the window panes as lightning lit up the background. A depression, the weather reports said. The rain was there to stay.

Erza, who lay bundled in his arms, gently kissed his throat.

"Hey," she said. "Never thought I would have to treat the rain as competition for your attention. What were you thinking about?"

He smiled and snuggled in closer. "Y'know. Stuff."

"Important?"

"Not really. I loved watching storms when I was a kid. I'd count the seconds between the lightning and the thunder and figure out how far away it fell."

"Lightning used to strike the Tower all the time during storms. I suppose they had ways to gather energy from it."

"Did it ever scare you? The lightning?"

Erza shook her head. "Other things scared me more."

Sighing out of his nose, Gray cupped her face and kissed her lips gently. She held his wrists and smiled into the kiss. The weather made it incredibly satisfying to just curl up under the sheets and be naughty together.

"I used to watch the light and figure out what kind of lightning it was, too."

"Oh? Show me."

And he did. Erza was a fast leaner, especially when she got kisses as a reward for saying the correct names.

"Bolt lightning."

"Correct," Gray muttered against her lips.

She chuckled. "And that's sheet lightn- _mmmm_."

It was a mutually rewarding learning process. A better memory associated with lightning for the both of them. Gray congratulated himself for having come up with it.

When it came time for dinner, Gray insisted that they eat on the bed, but Erza was having none of that. Halfway through the meal, a vicious crack of lightning shook the very earth, and the lights went out almost immediately.

"This brings back memories," Gray commented as Erza brought forth candles and a box of matches from her storage realm. "Candlelit dinner for free. Best day ever."

"Power outages _are_ uncommon these days, aren't they?" Erza wondered as she lit the candles, illuminating the dining table. "I remember when it used to go for a few hours every other day."

"You and me both. Don't worry, though. It'll be back soon."

Except it didn't come back. Darkness reigned supreme, with the rain dwindling to a drizzle. Gray had no doubt it'd swell again, but he took the chance to go outside and see whether the gutters had overflown.

They had.

"Erza!" he called excitedly as he went back inside. "The drains are like full-on rivers now! We can totally sail ships in them!"

Erza, who was gathering up the dishes, gave him a long look. "What?"

"You know. Paper boats."

" _Ohh_. I would love to, but I don't know how to make them."

"I can show you. C'mon it'll be fun."

It didn't take long to convince her, and it took even less time for Erza to figure out how to do it. She went all out, too, and drew windows and anchors on her boat. She nodded to herself after she'd finished. It was the most adorable thing Gray had seen her do that week.

"What did you name yours?" she asked him as they went out. Gray blinked at her.

"I didn't. Why would I? It's a paper boat."

"It still needs a name before it can sail. Bad luck otherwise."

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

Gray shook his head, chuckling. "All right, then." He held up the boat. "I hereby name you Princess Consuela Banana Hammock." He glanced at Erza. "How 'bout that?"

"Your boat is going to hate you forever with a name like that."

"Yeah, yeah. What about you? What'd you name yours?"

"Grayza."

"Ehh?"

"I just combined our names, Gray."

 _Why. Why are you so adorable?! I can't handle this!_

Gray cleared his throat. "Works for me."

After setting their boats on the water, Gray and Erza stood and watched as the current took both boats downstream at a breakneck pace. She wrapped her arms around his torso and placed her head on his shoulder.

"The ship," she said quietly. "It sails."

"Yeah." Gray put his arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple. "Yeah, it does."

Hopefully, he thought, with a strong enough current, it would keep on sailing forever.

 _Thank goodness for rainy days._


	4. Chapter 4

**Crossover**

Gray panted. That last attack had taken everything out of him, but he'd laid that fucking owl out on its ass. It'd spit Natsu out, too, so that was a bonus.

"Gotta find Erza," he told himself as he struggled to stay standing. "Gotta find her quickly... or..."

The world was spinning. He couldn't keep his eyes open. Gray felt his knees buckle.

 _Fuck_ , he thought as he started to fall forwards. He found he didn't even have the energy to brace for impact. _I'm sorry, Erza. I couldn't..._

But he didn't feel the impact for someone grabbed him mid-fall.

"I've always wanted to rescue a damsel!" He heard the noise of a cork being pulled out of a bottle and then some sort of pungent smelling liquid was poured down his throat. Gray felt like gagging and tried to spit it out, but the voice said, "Uh-uh-uh. That's it. Take it _all_ in, baby. Now, swallow for me."

Gray felt very strongly that he was being violated in some way, but he simply reacted on instinct and swallowed. To his surprise, he felt much better after consuming it. His head cleared, and the pain subsided, prompting him to open his eyes.

A man held him in a loose embrace, his arm looped around his waist in what was called the dip. The man in question was wearing a full body red and black suit of some kind. He must've caught on to Gray's confused stare for he said, "I know the dip is usually followed by a kiss, but my lips are chapped and I didn't brush today."

"...right. Who're you, exactly?"

"God's favourite deus ex machina," replied the man as he set Gray straight. He had several pouches lining his belt, and from one of these he pulled out a card and handed it over to Gray. "You might have heard of me."

Still somewhat confused as to what was going on, Gray looked down at the card.

 _Wade W. Wilson_

 _I say things and shoot stuff. A lot._

 _Call me. I'm very bendy._

If anything, that left Gray even more confused than ever. The man in the suit, however, mounted a giant hulking beast with antlers and held out his hand.

"C'mon," he said, "we have to save your waifu!"

"My _what_?" Gray spluttered before composing himself. "Who _are_ you?"

"I'm Captain Canada," replied the man. "And this is my moose, Logan. Say hi, Logan."

The moose turned to consider Gray. "Hiya, bub," it said.

"Together, we're going to go save Erza!"

 _Erza! Right! Wait a minute..._

"How do I know you're on our side?"

"Why else would I have stolen the magic potion from Gandalf's bedside? Now c'mon! This isn't the time to be asking questions! The studio can't afford overtime!"

With that, the man yanked Gray onto the moose, dug his heels into the moose's side and exclaimed, "Heigh-ho Logan, away!"

The moose galloped along the corridor at a breakneck pace and Gray clung onto the strange man.

"So you're Captain Canada?"

"Yeah. Captain Canuck died and left me in charge. I have his last words recorded, in case it's disputed in court. Good man. He apologised before he died, too. A true Canadian."

 _This is a fever dream. I'll wake up at the resort and all this will never have happened._

But it felt very real. Logan charged through everything standing in its way, whether it be people or monsters. Soon enough, they were at the place where Jellal – or Siegrain or whatever the fuck his name was – was preparing to sacrifice Erza.

As the moose came to a halt, the man in the strange suit hopped off. He looked at Gray and asked, "You know what a falsetto is?"

"A what?"

"Watch and learn," he said and sucked in a breath. Then he shouted, "Wait!"

Jellal stopped his monologuing and stared. Erza just looked confused. Gray smacked his forehead. The man, however, chuckled.

"Works like a charm," he said and trotted off towards Jellal.

"Who are _you_?" Jellal asked.

"I'm the sexiest man alive according to _People_ magazine, 2010."

"Wha-"

Without preamble, the man punched him in the face and knocked him out.

"What _happened_ to you?" he shouted down at the fallen mage. "You were _such_ a good villain! Not better than _me_ , but still serviceable! Don't become a bad boi sad boi twat!" He then sucked in a scandalised breath and looked up at the sky and pointed. "Whoops. Guess this fic is now Rated-R, kids."

"And _you_!" He turned to Erza and fell to his knees. "You're _so_ beautiful when you're almost topless." He shook his head. "Anyway, this is chapter 90, and lover boy back there-" He pointed at Gray."-has just had the world's sweetest flashback. It melted hearts all over the world. He fought an owl and will save you from losing an arm in the next arc, and he fights the superspeed guy so that the pink haired oompa loompa can save you again!" He spread his arms wide. "If only you _knew_ all that and gave Gray-chan a hug, I'd really appreciate it, thanks."

Erza looked utterly flabbergasted by all this. She asked, "Who _are_ you?"

"I'm the collective salt of the Grayza fandom given shape," replied the man as he stood up. Logan trotted up to him, and Gray did all he could to stop himself from blushing. "You two belong together! He clearly loves you! Like, why set up so much backstory and not do anything with it? That's just lazy writing! This can't be allowed to stand! We must strive for better romance quality! Make Shounen Jump great again!"

Gray let him soliloquise as he slid off Logan. He was weird, but at least he'd knocked out the maniacal asshole. A little tinkering with the machine allowed Erza to go free and she immediately fell to her knees. Gray knelt down before her and took her hands in his.

"You okay?" he asked her worriedly, but she smiled at him.

"Yes."

They looked up simultaneously when the strange man covered his mouth and gasped.

"Awww! You're bonding already!" he squealed. "There's hope yet!" He pulled out a small rectangular device from one of his pouches, held it up, stooped slightly and stuck out his index and middle finger in a V shape and said, "Let me take a selfie!"

There was a flash, and as Gray recovered from temporary blindness, he heard the man say, "Aaaand _straight_ to Twitter. Instagram, too. Hashtag rewriting canon, hashtag no filter, hashtag seriously."

Then the man straightened and looked straight down at them. "Cherish each other. Don't give in. Lots of people ship you. Toxic ships will come your way, but stay strong and keep banging. Oh, and use protection. Make the next 455 chapters count! Nobody gives a shit about the spin-offs and sequels, anyway."

With that, he started twiddling with some contraption on his wrist. "You're probably wondering how I got here. Well, this is usually the place I'd spoil everything, but Deadpool 2 is out on torrents now, so you have no excuse to not watch me anymore. I can't get any cheaper than free." He gunned his fingers at Gray and Erza. "Can't tell ya where I'm headed, but it rhymes with Voltron Season Seven. Maximum effort."

He pressed a button on his machine, and a bright yellow light enveloped both him and Logan. When it dissipated, they were gone.

After a while, Erza said, "That was very strange."

Gray nodded. "I have no idea what all just happened."

"He said you loved me."

"Uhh..."

"Gray?"

"Let's just get you out of here first, okay?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Friends to Lovers**

Sitting in a sunlit cafe and having cake was Erza's favourite post-mission celebration routine. As a general rule, party members got to tag along – her treat. After a particularly gruesome quest involving a codpiece, a leprechaun, polka-dot bikinis and flying crabs, Gray and Erza were doing just that. He didn't know whether the cake was helping Erza blot out this particular quest from memory but with the help of his trusted black coffee, Gray was halfway there already.

As he started on his twelfth cup, he could feel the details of the quest fade away with every sip and gulp. It was magical.

 _Gods bless black coffee._

It was a windy autumn's evening and the weather was pleasant. People were out for strolls and walks, making the most of the breeze before winter ruined everything. Prominently featured in this crowd were couples. Hand holding, giddy smiling, face eating couples. Never had Gray seen so many couples out thronging the street. They were probably out on a protest march of some kind, and he looked over to Erza to ask her thoughts on the matter, but stopped himself.

She sat with her chin on her hand, watching the couples wistfully. Gray, partly amused and partly confused at this development, cleared his throat. "Couple-watching sure is a popular pastime nowadays, innit?"

Erza sighed. "Would you look at them?" she commented as another couple walked by their table, arms around each other. Erza sighed again and looked down at her cake. "I'll never find a boyfriend. Die an old maid."

Then she took an aggressive bite out of her cake and chewed mournfully.

"You won't die an old maid," Gray reassured her. Then he paused. "Maybe an old spinster-cook."

She looked at him and smiled tightly. "Wow, thanks."

"Besides," he said and leaned in, placing his elbows on the table. "Worst comes to worst, _I'll_ be your boyfriend."

Gray meant it as a joke, of course, but when Erza burst out laughing, he couldn't help but feel a little bit miffed.

"Yeah, right," Erza replied as she took a sip of her tea.

Gray cleared his throat, though he was still smiling. "Why is that so funny?"

"You made a joke, right? So I laughed."

"Yeah, a little _too hard_." He repositioned himself on his chair and placed his forearms on the table. "What, am I not boyfriend material?"

"No," replied Erza, still smiling and shaking her head. "You're Gray."

"So what, exactly?"

"You know." She reached out and playfully punched his bicep. " _Gray_."

"Okay, so we've established my name _and_ hit me," he replied with a chuckle but sobered up. "But theoretically, you know? What if we weren't friends? What if it was a blind date and I showed up at your door?"

"Then I would tell you that I don't date strangers."

Gray had nothing to say to that. But the conversation was far from over.

* * *

Gray found himself back to back with Erza as goblins surrounded them. They'd stolen a shoe of a local noble's daughter and they wanted it back. Apparently shoes were very important to these people.

"So I was wondering," Gray said as he fashioned himself a spear made of ice.

"What?" Erza asked as the goblins slowly advanced.

" _Why_ couldn't I be your boyfriend?"

"Gods, Gray, are you still on this? It's been a week!"

"You bet your butt I am! What, am I not good enough for you?"

"No, I'm just not that desperate."

"...you know, even by ice mage standards, that was cold."

* * *

"So," Gray began as he twirled a bottle of ale in his hand and poured Erza a drink. "Still don't think I'm boyfriend material?"

"Huh?"

"Saw you checkin' me out at the King's game last night."

"Gray, you were naked."

"Lucky for you."

She looked at him, amused and incredulous at the same time. "What?"

Gray flipped his palms and sat down beside her, sighing heavily. "I have literally no idea what I just said."

"You poor baby. Do you need a hug?"

"Stop it."

* * *

Erza was slicing a tomato when Gray sat himself down on the counter and asked, "So I know I've asked you this before-"

"A hundred times before!" Erza slashed into the tomato with her knife, enunciating every word frustratedly before looking at him.

Gray calmly took the knife from her hand and put it away. "How am I not right for you?"

"I don't know," she replied, laughing in frustration. "I like guys like..." she sighed. "I guess I just gravitate to men who are more mature."

"Oh, so I'm not mature enough for you?" he asked, imitating her childishly. "Erza needs someone more _machoor_!" Then he stopped and sat silent for a moment. "You know, I think you make a good point."

"Thank you. Now can I have my knife back?"

* * *

"All right," Gray said as the train came to a halt at their destination. "Let's say there's a world ending apocalyptic event and I'm the only other human left beside you. Would you go out with me?"

"Ehh," Erza replied as she got off the train.

"Oh, come on!" Gray followed suit. "I'd have canned goods!"

* * *

Stakeouts were usually boring for the most part. Watching the same thing got tiresome after a few hours, so Gray had broken out the playing cards. But even that did nothing to stimulate him.

"Gin," said Erza triumphantly and placed her cards on the floor between them.

Gray looked at her. "We were playing gin?"

Erza merely chuckled and started gathering up her cards.

"You know, if we were a couple, we could play this game naked," Gray said with a smile as he slid his cards over to her.

Erza shook her head. "Will you stop?"

Gray raised his hands. "Sure. All right."

"Okay look," she said, looking at him earnestly. "I think you're great. I think you're sweet and you're smart." She paused to smile at him. "And I love you."

Gray did not know where this was suddenly coming from. "Uhh."

"But you'll always be the boy who threw his undies at my face and ran away after losing a fight."

"Hey, we don't talk about that!"

* * *

"So."

Gray looked up from his drink. "So...?"

Erza smiled at him. "It's been two days since you last asked me if you could be my boyfriend. Are you cured now?"

Snorting, Gray finished up his glass and smiled back. "You know, it was nice while it lasted but we all have to move on some day."

She punched his bicep as she sat down beside him. "What was all that about, anyway? I know you were just teasing, but you were really persistent."

He laughed at that. "Yeah, just... I don't know what to say."

"Hmm?"

"What you said last time. That you loved me. I guess that's all I really needed to hear, y'know?"

"How do you mean? Surely, you already knew that."

"Big difference between knowing and hearing," he replied with a shrug and lifted his glass to his lips, only to find that it was empty. "Erza, I've known you a long time. Longer than Mira or Natsu, and better than Cana or Laxus. I'm glad we met, and I'm glad we became friends. But for a long portion of that time, I've had feelings for you. Kept 'em away and under. Didn't wanna bring 'em to light. As a consequence, I never really dealt with them properly as I should have." He hummed and closed his eyes. "Now, I probably might regret saying all this in the morning, but up until very recently, those feelings were always there. On a leash, but ever present. After you said what you did, I thought to myself, 'This ain't so bad. I can live with that.' You know what I mean?"

Gray sighed deeply, opened his eyes and grinned sheepishly at Erza, who looked stunned. "I guess what I wanna say is that thanks to you, I'm ready to put that behind me now."

"I... wow. I really don't know what to say, Gray."

"You've already said everything I needed to hear," he replied as he got up from his stool. It was time to go home. "G'night Erza. I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

"How you holdin' up?"

Erza looked back and smiled when she saw him. Then she patted the grass beside her, inviting him to sit. When he had, she said, "I am all healed up, Gray."

"Well, that's good to know but I wasn't talking about that."

"I know." She sighed and wrapped her arms around her knees. "I just don't know what to think, honestly. My parents were never part of the picture, so I was never very curious about them growing up. Now, after all that, I just... I don't know what to make of the fact that I came from her... that she suffered as she did because of me."

"Don't forget that she was ready and willing to kill you, Erza."

"I know," she repeated weakly and leant her head on his shoulder, surprising him. "I have no idea what to make of this."

"We don't choose our parents, Erza," he said after a while. "I like to think that people aren't born evil, that time twists them into what they eventually become, but after everything I've seen, I dunno whether that's wishful thinking." He took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts. "Your mother suffered for you at one time, and that means that she did love you, regardless of what happened. It doesn't excuse what she did, but that's neither here nor there. Point is, we're not our parents. They were never around enough, for whatever reason, for us to be inspired to be like them. You're you because of the choices you made. Nobody can take credit for that. You fed the right dog. She didn't."

She looked up at his face. "The right dog?"

"Ahh." Gray kept his gaze focused before him. "When I was in Avatar, there was this guy, a grunt basically, called Reynard. He'd grown up in an orphanage and various foster homes. He was... troubled. So we were talking one day, and he told me that there was a philosophy among the boys growing up in his orphanage, that every person had two dogs inside them: the right dog and the wrong dog. Whichever one you fed more dictated your actions." Gray sighed. "He fed the wrong dog."

"I see."

"Yeah. Whatever your mother did and whoever she became was her choice and hers alone. You had no impact on her, and she had none on you. So don't beat yourself up, okay? As far as I'm concerned, she was just another stranger whom you had things in common with."

"It makes sense when you put it like that. I am just unused to meeting parents I'd assumed dead."

"Yeah, I know the feeling."

Erza sat up straight. "Gray, I didn't mean-"

"I know. Don't sweat it."

She sighed. "You are much too nice to me."

"You haven't given me a reason to throw my undies in your face and run away again."

"I thought we didn't talk about that."

"Things change."

"Yes," Erza said quietly after a moment. "They sure do."

Gray then felt an unexpected peck on his cheek, and he turned to find her smiling at him.

"I hope you did not mind, Gray."

"I, uh, I wouldn't..." he scratched the back of his head, scrambling for words. "Not exactly the word I'd use, no."

"Then I am glad." Erza got up and started walking up the grassy slope back to camp. "Goodnight, Gray."

"Yeah. You too."

* * *

Gray emptied his champagne glass into a fern. He signalled to one of the guys carrying trays of drinks and gave him the empty glass. He then went out onto the balcony, which was empty. Everyone was inside, either mingling or eating. Gray just needed some fresh air.

Lucy's book release party was a big deal, he knew, but he and crowds of posh pricks never really got along. The only reason he'd lingered after giving her his present was because she wouldn't want him to just duck out on an important event. But he really couldn't take it anymore. He had nothing against crowds – he wouldn't be in Fairy Tail if he did – but he preferred to sit down with a drink and not be bothered. That was hard to do with girls constantly making passes at him and asking him to strip.

He would stick around for a few more minutes. Then he'd jump the fence. Women in cocktail dresses asking him up to their rooms every three minutes got really tiring after a while.

 _The things I do for my friends_ , he thought as he leant his elbows against the balustrade and shook his head. _No power of friendship bullshit works in these situations_.

"I can't believe you escaped before me." Gray glanced back over his shoulder to find Erza coming up to him, smiling. "A fat editor insisted on talking to me about gerunds for fifteen minutes."

Gray snorted. "Your most ruthless adversary, I'm sure."

She hummed as she came and stood beside him, a wine glass held delicately between her fingers. "Are you thinking of running?"

"In a few minutes, yeah."

"Women?"

"Yeah."

"Shall I defend your honour?"

"I would like nothing better," he replied, laughing. "But this is Lucy's night. We shouldn't steal the spotlight."

"Mmm. Agreed."

Gray smiled at her. She looked stunning in that red dress. "Still waiting?"

Erza said nothing. It had been a long time since Jellal and his mates had been pardoned by the princess. Erza had been hoping that he'd drop by and that finally they'd have something but, so far, nothing. Gray nodded to himself and looked up at the sky.

"You have to be stationary to wait, you know. You move, and you might leave them behind. In other words, you're stagnant. You're not moving, you're not evolving, you're not growing. All you're doing is gathering moss." He paused a moment. "I won't tell you to not do it. I'm just asking you to consider how long you're willing to sacrifice your own growth and development for something that may or may not happen, because standing around idly while life leaves you behind is the wrong way to live."

"I know, Gray," Erza said with a sigh. "I think about it a lot. I've waited a long time, and sometimes I wonder whether I want it badly enough to sacrifice everything else, or whether I'm just in love with the idea. It's all I've wanted for a long time." She sipped from her glass. "I never had a normal life. I never had stuffed animals, and neither did I dream of being a princess. I never had that luxury. But now, when I see housewives and mothers, I wonder whether that's so bad. Is it bad to want a simple life? I like cooking. I enjoy doing the chores around the house, making sure everything is tip-top." She rolled her glass, smiling wistfully down at the spinning wine. "A house in the country doesn't sound so bad. A pool for the summer, and a lawn in front with old trees..."

"And a small path in front of the house where the many mini-Erzas can learn how to ride their bicycles without fear of being run over."

"Exactly," she smiled at him. "Have you ever thought about having a family, Gray?"

He shook his head. "I'm not cut out for that sorta thing."

"Why do you say that?"

"I have... issues, let's say."

"Care to elaborate?"

Gray sighed out of his nose. _It's only Erza_. "I've just seen too much fucked up shit happen to people who don't deserve it. You know what I mean? As long as I'm by myself, I don't have to worry about any of that. I can take my risks without all that much thought. But a family? Suddenly you have everything to lose, and not all of it is in your control. You wanna do your best but you're always wondering whether you fucked them up some way, you know? And kids, fuck. The responsibility for moulding another person's life and personality and thoughts? Actually inspiring them?" He shook his head. "I dunno, Erza. I just don't have enough balls for that. It frightens the fuck outta me, thinking I'll ruin the lives of others."

"I don't know, I think you have the correct amount. Anatomically speaking."

That surprised him into a laugh. Erza smiled and drank from her glass.

"You can trust us with your lives, but not your potential family?"

"No, I just wouldn't trust them with me. There's a difference."

"Gray, that's ridiculous. There is nobody I would rather have watching my back than you." She placed her hand on his and squeezed it gently. "Give yourself more credit."

"Yeah, well, you're different. You don't _need_ anyone watching your back."

"That's not what this is about. Even if I were powerless, I would still trust my life to you." She smiled at him. "I trust you, Gray. More than perhaps you trust yourself."

"Perhaps," he said quietly. All this focusing on his insecurities made him uneasy. "But I'd best get going now."

"Oh." She removed her hand, sounding a bit disappointed. "All right, then. Will you say goodbye to Lucy?"

"And wade into _that_ stampede again? You wish."

Erza smiled and finished her wine. "Then I wish you a good night, Gray."

"Yeah." He made to walk away, but Erza stayed rooted to the spot. "Not gonna return to the fold?"

"Oh. No, I just want to stay here a while."

"Gerunds really scare you, huh?"

"Heh. Something like that."

There was more going on under the surface, but Gray wasn't one to pry. He just wished there was something he could do to make her feel better.

And he chanced upon the perfect thing, too.

"Hey," he said.

"Hmm?"

Gray bent at the waist and held out his hand, smiling. "May I have this dance, Lady Erza?"

She stared at him, though the corners of her lips twitched in amusement. "Are you serious?"

"I mean, unless you'd rather deal with gerunds and infinitives and past participles."

Laughing, she placed her hand in his and said, "You make a solid argument, Sir Gray."

"I know," he said and led her to the middle of the balcony before pulling her close and placing his other arm on her waist. "I _am_ pretty great."

"Yes." Erza placed her hand on his shoulder and her cheek on his chest. "That you are, O Great Gray."

He chuckled, but didn't say anything. He just swayed with her to some imaginary tune, holding her close, her scent overpowering. Somehow, it didn't feel wrong.

"Hey," he whispered into her hair.

"What?" she responded, equally quiet.

"You'll be all right."

"I know. We'll both be all right."

 _I wish._

* * *

When Gray heard the knock, he was changing into his pajamas. Though it irritated him, he went and opened it. A knocking door, like a ringing phone, only added to annoyance if left unattended. On this occasion, he found himself flabbergasted. For Erza stood at his door, still wearing her dress.

"Cute PJs," she commented, grinning widely. "Really living it up, huh?"

He chuckled. "I wasn't exactly expecting company after," he glanced at the clock, "nine-fifteen."

Erza laughed as he moved aside and let her in. "Getting ready for bed, huh?"

"That's... what normal people do," he answered as he closed the door. "Listen, you're not still upset over what the people said, are you?"

A gossip writer from Sorcerer Magazine had snapped a picture of them dancing together and had attempted to interview them about their newfound love. While it hadn't ended well for him, it had drawn comments from other people about a variety of topics, most notably about Erza having moved on from Jellal after a few drinks. Erza had taken that to heart and had raided the wine cellar in retribution. He'd had to stop her and walk her to Fairy Hills before she went nuts.

And now she was back. At his words, she ducked her head.

"Wouldn't you be?"

"Look," he said carefully. "It's been an emotional time. You've had a lot to drink. You just hafta let that go, okay?"

"Doesn't it _bother_ you?"

Gray shrugged. "It's a cheap magazine, Erza. They thrive on this stuff. Forge their professional reputations from rumours. I wouldn't worry about it too much. And besides," he said with a smile, "if they _do_ start rumours about us, at least I'll be paired with the most beautiful woman in the room."

She looked at him. "You really think that?"

Gray chuckled. "You kiddin'? You're the most beautiful woman in most rooms-"

He had no idea what happened next but suddenly Erza had her arms around his neck and was giving him the hottest, hardest kiss he'd ever received in his life. Surprised as he was, his body responded before his mind caught up and he kissed her back on instinct.

But then his mind _did_ catch up, and he pushed her away.

"Whoa, whoa , whoa, what's going on?" he said, alarmed. He pointed at her and then at himself. "We just made out! We're making out?"

"Not anymore," Erza replied quickly, still catching her breath.

"But we don't do that!"

"I know, I just thought it would be fun!"

Something occurred to Gray and he squinted, taking half a step forward. "How drunk are you?"

Erza's answer was prompt and rapid. "Drunk enough that I know I want to do this. Not so drunk that you should feel guilty about taking advantage."

Gray spent two seconds adding the two sentences up. _Ah, fuck it_. "Well, that's the perfect amount."

He took her hands in his and ran to the bed. He sat her down before kissing her again. Erza wasn't shy about holding back. She tangled her fingers in his hair and moaned against his mouth, sending tingles in places Gray knew not what to do with.

"Do you know what's weird?" she asked with a grin when they separated for breath.

"What?"

" _This_ doesn't feel weird!" Erza laughed light-headedly.

"No."

"You're a _really_ good kisser."

"Well, I _have_ kissed more than four women." Her giddiness was contagious and Gray found himself grinning along. "Wanna get under the covers?"

"Okay!"

It felt less like sensual exploration and more like playing a game to Gray as they both tried to get under the sheets before the other. Gray went the extra distance and shed his pajamas while he was at it. In record time, and that too while under covers. When he was done, he found Erza looking at him, highly impressed.

"Wow, you are _really_ fast."

Gray snorted. "The wonders of practice, what can I say?"

"Well, shall we?"

"Let's."

Gray reached out and turned off the lights.

* * *

"Well, I've never done _that_ with _you_ before."

"Nope."

Everything was awkward. Everything. It was as if the glitter of awkwardness had rained from the sky and drowned them in it. Gray wanted to die. But he also wanted to make sure she was okay.

"So how are ya? Are you, uh, are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. You?"

"Oh yes. You?" He stopped and looked at her. "We did you."

It was morning, and they both lay beside each other, trying to make sense of everything and adjusting to all that had happened the previous night.

"Well, I, uh, I better get going," Erza said.

"Oh, yeah, sure."

Erza made to get out of the covers, but stopped and looked at him. "Could you not look?"

Gray looked away. "I don't _wanna_ look."

* * *

Later that day, Gray sat down next to Erza at the guild's bar with his drink and cleared his throat. She didn't look at him.

"What we did last night was..."

"...was stupid."

"Yeah, I mean, totally crazy stupid."

"What were we thinking?"

They both drank simultaneously. Silence fell between them, but Gray felt he had to break it.

"You're coming over tonight though, right?"

"Oh yeah, definitely."

* * *

Later that same day, after learning of the impending hundred year quest, Gray went to talk to Erza again.

"Listen," he said as he sat down trepidatiously. "I know we had plans to meet later tonight, but I'm worried about what it might do to our friendship, you know?"

Erza nodded grimly. "I know what you mean. Especially with this quest... how could we have let it happen?"

"Seven times!"

"Mhm." Erza sighed. "Maybe it was just because we were drunk."

"Yeah. And it was a very emotional time."

"Hundred year quests are pretty scary, too."

"Fearful counts as emotional."

"Who _knows_ what might happen, you know?"

"And we're _still_ hungover and getting drunk."

"And _while_ we're still drunk and emotional," Erza looked at him. "We can still keep doing it, right?"

Gray shrugged helplessly. "I don't see that we have a choice."

"But when we're _not_ drunk and emotional-"

"-we _don't_ do it." Gray nodded. "You know, the wine-cellar's empty at this time of day."

Erza considered this. "I'll meet you downstairs in two minutes."

Gray got up and ran.

* * *

While on the train to their quest, Gray liked the fact that they got complimentary gin. Little bottles, but it was still something. Travelling first class sure had its uses.

"You know, I'm really upset that Wendy gets sick on a train," he said as he finished his little bottle of gin in one gulp, drawing the attentions of both Erza and Lucy, though he knew from Erza's eyes that she knew what he was getting at.

"I get rather upset myself," Erza stated, finishing her bottle of gin and getting up. "And must therefore go to the bathroom."

"Natsu's in the bathroom," Lucy told them. "And Wendy's in the other one. You'll have to cross into the next compartment. I'd be careful, though. Some sorta royal newlyweds are travelling with us and they booked up the entire compartment. You wouldn't wanna intrude."

"Aye," Happy added. "Last I heard, the woman had lost one of her pet guinea pigs and the staff was looking all over the compartment for it."

"I'm gonna go help them search," Gray said readily, rising to his feet. "For at least thirty minutes."

Erza said, "Or forty-five."

"Well," Gray smirked. "In forty-five minutes, we could find the guinea pig twice."

"Mhmm. You want to do some searching with me, Gray?"

"Sure, I'll... do it with you."

Once inside the royal bathroom, though, Erza said, "Should we really be doing this here? The newlyweds would-"

"Oh, Erz-Er-Erza," spluttered Gray in his hurry to interrupt her. "This is the honeymoon bathroom. The bathroom _expects_ sex. It would be disappointed if it _didn't_ get sex." He spread his arms pathetically. "All the other honeymoon bathrooms would think it was a loser."

Laughing, Erza said, "Okay."

Gray grinned and stepped closer to her. "Wow, your laughter-"

"Not enough time," she said and started pulling off his shirt.

"Yeah, you're right."

* * *

As soon as they'd checked in to their rooms, Natsu grabbed Lucy by the wrist and ran out to explore, Wendy in tow, leaving Gray and Erza to deal with the luggage.

"Well, we're certainly alone," said Erza nervously as Gray helped her drag in all the suitcases to the girls' room.

"Yeah," Gray replied as he looked around to check that all the bags were in the rooms they were supposed to be in. Then he smiled at her. "Good thing we have that no-drunk rule."

"Right." Erza chuckled and came up to him. "Listen, while we are on that subject..."

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to tell you that, uh, well, I was having a hard time that night." She rubbed her left bicep with her right hand. "And just-"

"Right," Gray cut her off. He didn't want her to have to say it all again. She smiled at him.

"I just... that night meant a lot to me, and I just want to thank you, I guess."

"Oh. Yeah." Gray stuck his hands inside his pockets. "That night meant a lot to me, too. Not because I was having a hard time or anything, but because... you're really hot."

Erza stared at him wordlessly before she broke out giggling.

Gray chuckled. "Is that okay?"

"Yes," she replied, still laughing. "That's okay."

He leaned forward mischievously. "And I'm cute too."

"And you're cute too."

"Heh. Thanks. All right, I gotta go unpack," he said and held out a hand. Erza smiled and slapped her palm into his. Gray pointed at her before turning away. "Bye."

He closed the door on his way out and leaned back against it, sighing deeply. It was the right thing to do, wasn't it? Getting out while the going was good? Before anyone got hurt?

Gray shook his head. _Ah, fuck me._

He turned and opened the door, only to find Erza on the other side, a few paces away from the door herself, looking up at him in surprise. It seemed like she'd been on the way to opening the door as well.

Gray gulped as he entered, shutting the door with his foot. "I'm still a little _buzzed_ from the gin. Does that count?"

Erza nodded vigorously. "Oh, that counts."

"Oh, good," he managed to mutter as he kissed her.

* * *

The clock said it was three in the morning when the knock came. Gray had been pacing by the door for about three minutes, so he opened it before the knocking could even fully end.

Before Erza could say a word, he crashed his lips into hers, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in. He fumbled to close the door and pushed her up against it as she moaned into his mouth.

"What took you so long?" he asked her breathlessly after his spirited greeting.

"They wouldn't fall asleep," she replied. "But I'll knock them out tomorrow."

Natsu had sleepwalked himself into the girls' room a half hour ago. Something about her scent being nice. He and Happy liked using her as a pillow. Usually Gray would feel sorry about Lucy, but he was too busy feeling other things to care.

"Bed?"

"Please."

* * *

"Gray...?"

"Mmm. I'm awake. 'Sup?"

"I have been... thinking."

"About?"

"This... us."

"Okay. And?"

"And... it's been two weeks..."

"Yeah...?"

"So... where is this... going? Are we... just having fun? Or...?"

"Hmm. Where do you want us to go?"

"You first."

"Ladies first."

"I asked the question. You answer me. It's only gentlemanly."

"All right." Pause. "I know that I don't want to stop, that I want to spend more time with you. Outside of sex, you know? That I care about you very, very much."

"Mmm. Then we want similar things."

"Yeah. I guess we do."

"So, do we tell the others?"

"Nope. Not yet."

"Okay."

"Oh, and one more thing."

"Hmm?"

"Can I be your boyfriend _now_?"

* * *

"Hey," Gray said as he sat down beside Erza in front of the fire. "The others all asleep?"

"Mhmm. Natsu is asleep in Lucy's bedroll. The Exceeds are in Wendy's tent. Not a peep out of any of them for a while."

"That's good news all around. Anything going on?"

"No. All quiet." Erza looked at him. "You sure you got enough sleep?"

Gray shrugged as he poked the fire with a stick. "I'm good. You?"

"I was supposed to wake you in an hour."

Keeping watch at night was basically their shared responsibility. The rest were pretty useless in that department. Out in the open, anything could swoop down and make everything miserable.

"This is nice, though," he said with a smile. "Nice and quiet. And I get to spend time with you."

"And none of the others are around, so we don't have to hide." She smiled back. "We can be a real couple. For all of two hours."

"Long enough for me to do this," he said smugly and took her hand in his. "Because that's what _boyfriends_ do."

Erza laughed quietly and shifted closer.

"And I can do _this_." She pecked him lightly on the cheek and lingered, rubbing her nose along his cheekbone. Gray turned and kissed her forehead, before gently cupping her face and kissing her slowly.

It was hard, being around each other all day but being unable to do anything unless the cover of darkness came to their aid. Even then, they didn't have the time to do all they wanted to do. It was insanely frustrating.

Erza sighed softly when he pulled away. "Can we lie down for just a bit?"

"Sure."

The night sky was in spectacular form. The moon had gone to sleep, leaving her children to illuminate the vast canvas of darkness. And the stars did not disappoint.

"You know, back when I was training with Ur, I had trouble sleeping," Gray said after they settled down. "All that was on my mind was Deloira, and how I was gonna avenge the destruction of my village. I spent my nights plotting, thinking how I would do what I had to do. Even despite the gruelling training, I couldn't get myself to sleep."

Erza said nothing, though she rubbed her thumb over his knuckles. Gray sighed.

"And I was going nuts, y'know? Obsessing over revenge... I was seven. Maybe eight years old." He clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Anyway, we all used to sleep in this one room, right? Ur had a fire going and we'd all sleep on the hearth. I'd always sleep next to the window, and one night, I was really tired of everything – the training, the plotting, everything. All I wanted was to sleep for a day, but I couldn't. So I look out the window, and all I see are stars. I started counting them. Just randomly. I was asleep before I knew it." He was silent a while. "I never saw stars like that in the city. They never twinkled as they do when you're outdoors."

"I never saw the stars until after I escaped from the Tower," Erza said after a while. "The rooms we were made to sleep in had boarded up windows. We could only make out lightning through the gaps between the boards, and sometimes rainwater would slip in. That was the most contact we had with the outside world." She snuggled into his side and Gray put his arm around her neck. "When I was out, and I saw everything for the first time, I didn't understand anything, and I knew nobody that I could ask. So after joining the guild, I spent most of my time reading, trying to understand the world and the people in it, how things worked and all that."

"Yeah. I remember."

"And you assumed I thought I was too good to be mixing with you guys."

Gray grimaced. "Yeah, about that-"

"It's okay. You were young and stupid."

"It's funny, though," he said after her giggling had subsided. "I was having a bad day. Lost my wallet and fell in a ditch. And Cana gives me a reading for my future, right? And she tells me that I would have 'brilliant luck' that day. And I scoffed at her." He smiled to himself. "And just a few moments later, you walked in."

"I didn't know this," Erza said softly, though he felt the smile in her voice. "Fancy that."

"Yeah. Fancy that." He kissed her forehead. "It took ten years, but I guess it finally came true."

"Mhmm. I am tired of sneaking around though. Shall we tell the others once we get back?"

"...well."

* * *

"So, Gray," Mirajane began with a grin as he sat down at the bar. "Did you hear about Erza's new secret boyfriend?"

"Uhh." Gray glanced at Erza, who sat in the stool beside him, nervously sipping her ale without looking at him. He looked back at Mirajane. "I, uh, may have heard a thing or two about him."

The barmaid's grin broadened as she turned to Erza. "So when do we meet this mystery boyfriend man?"

"Oh he's very shy," Erza said. "He may not be up to meeting everybody yet."

Gray nodded. "Yeah he's definitely not up to meeting everybody yet."

"I don't care," responded Mirajane as she served Gray his drink. "I wanna meet this guy who makes Erza the happiest she's ever been."

" _Really_?!" Gray exclaimed gleefully, downing his drink in one go and crossing a leg over another. " _That's_ what you heard?" He rounded upon Erza, grinning broadly. "You _said_ that?"

Erza smiled back forcefully, and though Gray could see her brows twitching, he didn't really care.

"I might have said that," she replied carefully.

Gray started laughing. He placed a hand around his abdomen and covered his eyes with the other as his body shook violently with every guffaw, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Why is that funny?" Erza asked, unimpressed, and slapped his shoulder.

"Because I'm very happy for him," Gray replied, still recovering. He slapped Erza's knee lightly. "And _you_ , ya lucky dog!"

Neither of them noticed the twinkle in Mirajane's eye.

* * *

Now that the quest was done and they were back in Fiore, Gray had more time to spend with Erza even outside of quests and meeting at the guildhall. Sometimes they took quests together, and sometimes they just met up wherever the other was.

It was closing in on six months since they'd first hooked up, and Gray was happier than he'd been in a long time.

"Hello, children," he greeted Lucy, Erza and Mira with a grin as he joined them at the bar. "Got a quest in Crocus for the weekend. I'm taking the night train, so fill me up with ale before I leave, Mira."

"That's so funny," Mirajane replied as she poured him his drink. "Erza was just telling us about this quest she'd taken in Crocus for the weekend."

"Oh, really?"

"That _is_ funny," Erza said, smiling sweetly at him. "It seems like Gray's quest could've been in Cedar or Clover Town."

Gray smiled back. _Don't blow this now_. "I'm not in charge of where the quest giver resides. Do you want people to think it's a fake quest? It's a real quest."

"Of course," Erza replied as she stood up. "But _I_ take the evening train and I promised Lucy that I would help her with her landlord, so I shall see you after your quest, Gray."

When both she and Lucy had gone, Gray cleared his throat. "Small world, huh?"

Mirajane placed her elbows on the counter and leaned in.

"Mhmm. Very small, indeed." She smiled warmly, her eyes lingering on his chest. "That jacket looks great on you."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she replied, running her hand down his sleeve. "The fabric's so soft-oh. Hello, Mr. Bicep! Have you been working out more?"

"Y'know," Gray laughed. "I try to squeeze things."

Mirajane broke into a giddy laugh. Gray didn't know what was so funny about what he'd said. Was she drunk?

"Mira?" he asked concernedly. "Are you okay?"

"Well, if you _really_ wanna know," she began, but stopped herself, holding up her hands. "I can't tell you."

"Mira, it's me." He smiled at her. "You can tell me anything."

"Well, actually, you're the one person I can't tell this to... and the one person I want to the most."

Gray squinted at her. "What's going on?"

"I think it's just that, you know, I haven't been with a guy in so long and you know when sometimes you're looking for something and just don't even see that it's right there in front of you sitting on a stool sipping ale."

Gray had been bringing his glass to his lips but stopped and put it down. Mirajane smiled at him shyly.

"Oh no, have I said too much?" she asked coyly, covering her mouth. "Oh well, something to think about." She straightened. "I know I will."

Then she turned around, Gray still staring at her, smiled winsomely over her shoulder, tossed her hair and walked away.

"What the _shitcakes_?" he asked himself as he sat there, horror-struck.

* * *

"I think Mira has a thing for me," Gray announced after they'd finished with their questing for the night.

"What?"

"You know. A thing. Like a crush or something."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, after you left the guildhall the other day, she was hitting on me."

Erza propped herself up on an elbow, smiling incredulously. "Are you sure?"

"I'm telling you, I felt the vibes, okay?"

"That's... not possible."

"I know, right?"

"I'm sorry, it's just... Mira has always thought you were charming in a brother-y sort of way."

"Oh, I can't hear _that_ enough."

"I'm sorry, I just... I think you misunderstood."

"I didn't misunderstand, okay?" Gray said and sat up, frustrated that she wouldn't believe him. "She was all over me! She even touched my bicep, for fuck's sake!"

Erza raised an eyebrow and pinched his bicep. " _This_ bicep?"

"Well it's not _flexed_ right now." Gray sighed. "Why is it so hard for you to accept that Mira could be attracted to me?"

"It's not. You are _very_ handsome. It's just..." Erza stopped, her eyes widened and she sat up as well. "By the gods, she _knows_ about us!"

Gray stared at her in alarm. "Are you serious?"

"Yes! She knows and is messing with us! That's the only explanation!"

Gray licked his lips. "But what about my rugged good looks and bulging biceps?" He slapped his bicep. "Yeah, you're right."

Erza nodded grimly. "What do we do?"

"Hold on." Gray dug out his phone from his bag and called up Mirajane. It wasn't all that late, so he was confident he'd get her. She picked up on the fourth ring.

"Hello?"

"Mira, this is Gray," he said, putting his finger to his lips to signal Erza to remain silent. She nodded and he put the call on speaker. "Listen, I'm here alone in my hotel room, and I couldn't help but think about what you said to me."

A pause on the other end. Then a strangled, "Ehhh?"

"Yeah, that thing you said before? Well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued."

"Really?" Mirajane replied. She sounded panicked.

"Yeah, so how about you come over after your shift the day I get back and I'll let you feel my bicep." He paused for effect. "And _more_."

A long pause. "I'll have to get back to you on thatokay _bye_."

As she clicked off, Gray tossed the phone back into the bag victoriously and lay down. "Two can play that game."

"She thinks she's so slick, messing with us." Erza said in-between giggles as she snuggled up to him.

"Well, the messer just became the messee!"

"True. So what now?"

Gray thought about it. "More questing?"

"I don't see why not."

* * *

"So, Gray, I would _love_ to come over tonight."

Gray almost spilled his drink at Mirajane's words. He threw a sideways glance at Erza, who was seated beside him, and asked, "R-really?"

"Yes," Mirajane replied, her voice sultry and eyes bright. "Shall we say around... _six_?"

"Six sounds... good."

"Good. I'm really looking forward to you and me having sexual intercourse." She bit her lip and winked at him before floating over to the other patrons.

Gray stared helplessly at Erza, who patted the air, signalling that it'd be all right. Gray, who had never taken much on faith, took refuge in his drink.

* * *

"It'll be fine," Erza told him as she folded his collars properly. "You just make her think that you want to sleep with her and it will flip her out."

"Yeah, but how far am I supposed to go?" Gray asked uncertainly.

"Don't worry about it," Erza replied as she sprayed breath freshener into his mouth. "She'll crack _way_ before you do!"

After he was done choking on the spray, Gray croaked, "How do you _know_?"

"Because you're on _my_ team! And my team _always_ _wins_!"

"At _this?!_ "

Erza rolled her eyes. Whatever she was about to say was cut short by the knock on his front door. Gray felt his stomach clench up.

"Go get some!" Erza pecked him on the lips and clapped his back lightly to encourage him. "Go!"

He waited till she was safely hidden in the bathroom before he went to get the door, getting his sexy smouldering look on as he went.

 _I wanna die._

Mirajane stood on his doorstep in a sizzling black dress, the top button of which was open. She had her hair down, and smelled great. Overall, she looked stunning. Gray did his best to not crack up in laughter. Instead, he pocketed his hands and leaned against the door.

"Mira," he said, deepening his voice.

"Gray," she replied, her voice a tad breathless.

"C'mon in," he told her, jerking his head towards the inside of the house and winking at her.

She smirked at him. "I was going to."

Gray closed the door as she walked in, telling himself that it'd be all okay in the end.

"I brought some wine. Would you like some?"

"Sure. I'll get some glasses."

He gave her the glasses and, barkeep as she was, she uncorked the bottle and filled the glasses.

"So, here we are," she said as she handed him his glass. "Nervous?"

"No. You?"

"No. I _want_ this to happen."

"Well, so do I."

They clinked glasses, smiling at each other, and started to drink. Neither stopped until their glass was drained.

"That went right to my head," Mirajane said with a quiet laugh. "Makes me wanna rip that shirt right off you."

"Well, then," Gray rallied, "why don't we move this to the bedroom?"

Her smile faltered for just a second. "Really?"

Gray now smelled blood. "Oh, do you not want to?"

"No," Mirajane replied quickly. "First I wanna... take off all my clothes and have you rub lotion on me."

"That sounds... nice." Gray imagined it for just a second and shuddered internally. "I'll go get the lotion."

Then, making sure his stride didn't exude panic, he went into the bathroom to consult Erza, who was waiting with lotion in hand.

"This is totally getting outta hand, okay?" he hissed as he took the bottle.

"She's bluffing!"

"I tell you, she's not backing down!"

"Doesn't matter!" Erza replied maniacally. "You got out there and seduce her till she cracks!"

"All right, fine!" Gray sighed and looked around, finally noticing something. "Did you clean up in here?"

"Of course," she replied like it was the most obvious thing, and pushed him out.

Gray scanned the room for Mirajane and found her facing away from him, halfway to the door.

"Oh, you're leaving?"

She turned around, and he saw with horror that most of the buttons on her dress were now undone.

"Not without you, luv- _er_ ," she said, though Gray could tell from her tone that it was unnatural. She kept looking at him and down at her chest as she walked up to him. "So, this is my bra."

Gray had no idea what to say. "It's very, very nice." He held up the bottle of lotion. "Well, c'mere." _Oh my fuck what the gods._ "I'm very happy we'll be having all the sex."

"You should be," Mirajane replied after a slight pause. "I'm very bendy."

At that moment, Gray was acutely aware of his brain rolling over and dying.

"I'm going to kiss you now," Mirajane said and came even closer.

"Not if I kiss you first," he replied mechanically, his voice cracking at the end.

Mirajane placed a hand on his waist, so he placed a hand on _her_ waist. She responded by cupping his rear, so Gray went upstairs. His hand hovered over her chest before he gave up and settled for her shoulder.

"H-h-here it comes," said Mirajane.

Gray gulped. He stared at her face, doing everything he could to not look down. Then as she leaned in, he glanced at her glistening lips and squirmed out of her grip.

"Good gods, Mira, cover up your boobies I can't look," he said in a high-pitched voice. "I can't kiss ya, okay?"

"Hah!" Mirajane jumped while rapidly closing buttons. "And why is that?"

"Because I love Erza!"

Mirajane stopped her victory jump, her mouth falling open in shock. Even Erza came out of the bathroom.

"That's right," Gray declared, throwing his arms about. "I love Erza." He pointed at her. "I! Love! Erza!"

"What?!" Erza and Mirajane exclaimed in unison, causing Gray to panic even more.

"What?" he asked. "I said I couldn't kiss her and then I just stopped talking!"

"You just said you loved me, I can't believe this," Erza said as she walked up to him, arms outstretched. Gray shrank away, laughing nervously.

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"No, I didn't!"

"You love me," Erza said, waggling her finger at him, grinning broadly.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it," Gray kept repeating as he started jumping in one spot. "I can't even think anymore!"

"I thought you two were just doing it! I didn't know you were in love!" Mirajane exclaimed happily, covering her face with her hands.

Erza finally wrapped her arms around Gray and hugged him tightly. "I love you too, Gray," she said quietly.

A wave of exhaustion suddenly washed over him and Gray sighed deeply.

"Yeah," he muttered into Erza's hair. "I love you three, but I just wanna lie down, okay?"

* * *

"Erza, your husband's here," Cana called as soon as Gray walked through the doors. He glared at her, but she stuck out her tongue at him.

Mirajane had been sworn into secrecy, so of course everybody knew. Not that there was much shock or otherwise overboard behaviour. If anything, Gray was astounded at how many people had been betting on him and Erza getting together, Wakaba chief among them. It was revealed that he had placed his bets the very day Gray had gotten his ass handed to him by Erza for the first time. It was mind-boggling.

Other than that, though, it was business as usual.

"But just imagine!" Mirajane said with a laugh and a clap of her hands as he sat down beside Erza. "If you two ever have kids-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Gray stopped her before she could get going. "We're having kids?"

"I call Godfather," announced Loke from a distant table.

"Lyon might have a problem with that," Mirajane pointed out. "He is next-of-kin, technically."

"Hey, if he bothered to call Godfather first, I would consider it, but I don't see him around. Do you?"

Gray buried his face in his hands. Thankfully, Erza came to his aid.

"You're all a few steps ahead of us."

"Yeah," Gray added. "Big, zero-gravity, moon steps."

"Oh!" Mirajane exclaimed, undeterred. "I just thought of the greatest wedding present for you two!"

"I'll go in on that with you," came Cana's voice. "I couldn't think of anything."

He knew they were joking around, but it _was_ an eventuality. Well, a _probable_ eventuality. They didn't necessarily _have_ to get married. For whatever reason. Maybe they would break up. Maybe Jellal would finally show up. The future wasn't something he could control. Especially those of others. And if they had kids, who was to say he wouldn't fuck everything up? What if he hurt her enough for her to turn away from him? Or the kid?

 _I'm not cut out for that sorta thing._

Gray pinched his eyes.

 _The responsibility for moulding another person's life and personality and thoughts? Actually inspiring them? I just don't have enough balls for that. It frightens the fuck outta me, thinking I'll ruin the lives of others._

He leaned forward, pushing his fingers against his eyes until he saw stars against the back of his lids.

 _What am I doing?_

There was no air. No sound, either. Except the drumming of his heart in his ears. He opened his mouth and took a breath to steady himself. Felt a hand on his back. Whispered words against his ear.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes," he replied instinctually. The world was coming back to him. The chatter, the smells, the feeling of people staring at him. Gray opened his eyes and looked at Erza. There was so much concern in her eyes that it broke his heart to have caused that, for even a miniscule moment. She did love him, and the least he could do was be truthful. "No."

At that, Erza stood up and barked, " _Quiet_!"

Immediately there was pin-drop silence. Even in his state, Gray almost smiled. As Erza sat down again, he shook his head, trying to dislodge the thoughts, but they were there to stay. They had been waiting to haunt him and now that the honeymoon phase was over, they had reared their head.

"What's the matter?" she asked him.

Gray didn't know what to tell her. So he placed his hands on the counter and pushed himself to his feet.

"I can't. I gotta go."

"Gray? Go where?"

"Take a walk." He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "I'll talk to you later, I promise."

She knew he was good for his word. He saw from her face that she didn't like it, but she trusted him, and she nodded.

Gray walked out of the guild and turned left. _When in doubt, go left_. That had always worked for him. He didn't remember where he'd picked up the habit, but he stuck to it.

Was he really going to think about abandoning her and all he had with her? Was that something he was seriously about to consider? Gray shook his head, both angry and ashamed at himself. Then he took a deep breath and shoved his hands into his pockets.

 _Don't analyse data you don't have_ , he reminded himself. _So what do you know for certain?_

Erza wanted a normal life. House in the country, lawn, pool, husband, kids. That he knew because she'd told him herself. And that was the natural progression, wasn't it? People who loved each other mostly got married and had kids. Evergreen and Elfman, Gajeel and Levy, Alzac and Bisca... examples were all around him. He didn't know for sure, but he guessed that he himself was the product of the union of two people who loved each other.

Gray didn't remember his parents. All he had were faded memories. He couldn't put a face to his mother's name, and while he'd had to fight his resurrected father, there hadn't been enough time for a meaningful conversation. Ur had taken him in when she didn't have to. She didn't fear the responsibility.

He passed a playground to his right. Kids aged four to eight were playing. Swinging on the swings, going around the merry-go-round, slipping down the slide, running around trying to catch each other. He smiled to himself and kept walking.

All the faces had displayed hopefulness and happiness. Happiness stemmed from security, and security from the knowledge that there were people you could trust back home who had your back.

What did _he_ have in his heart when he was their age? Vengeance and violence. Trauma from a demon having stampeded through his village and slaughtered everyone he knew. And that hatred in his heart had gotten Ur killed. It was a choice she'd made. That was something parents would do for kids. That was something he had done before for Erza and the others.

 _I trust you, Gray. More than perhaps you trust yourself_ , she'd told him. What had she seen in him? What had she seen that he didn't? What did she know about him that he didn't?

Gray passed by a store with a glass front and instinctually stopped and stared at himself. He couldn't see what Erza had seen. Not really. Other than the fact that he had a similar facial structure to Jellal, nothing came to mind. He'd known a long time that they were similar looking. Jellal had had Erza's heart in his hand, so to speak. He'd chosen to throw it away due to reasons both selfless and selfish.

 _Am I going to do the same? Am I doing the same? Am I pulling a Jellal and rationalising this as me not being good enough for her?_

There were never enough answers. Never enough, if any at all.

He shook his head and when he looked back at the glass, his eyes focused on what was behind it instead of on his reflection. And he couldn't help but chuckle.

It was a shop that sold baby products, with little shirts and diapers and soap and cots displayed behind the window. He wondered what all he'd grown up with, whether he'd been a handful. At least he'd had people to raise him. Erza never even had that. The Tower had fucked her up for good and _still_ she wanted to bring new lives into this world. That took courage. Like Ur, she was willing to take responsibility when she didn't have to.

Gray stared at the little shirts on display. He reached out and placed his palm on the glass against a white shirt with the face of a cartoon cat on it. It was marginally bigger than his hand if he stretched his fingers out.

 _Something this small can't be_ that _scary... right?_

He moved on before the shopkeepers thought he was a potential customer. _Not today, Devil._

For all his thinking, he only came away with two conclusions. The first was that Erza had never personally told him that she wanted marriage and kids right then and there. It was a conversation they would have in time, when they were ready for it. It was a nonexistent problem, and freaking out over it was a waste of time.

The second was more personal. _I'm no Jellal_.

So after a few more minutes spent walking around aimlessly, Gray set his course for the guildhall. Everything fell silent as he entered this time but he didn't look at anybody other than the redhead at the bar who stood up. She came forward and opened her mouth to speak but he held up a hand to stop her.

"I have serious commitment issues," he began. "I'm not ready for marriage or children, and that shit still freaks me out, I won't lie. I'm all fucked up in the head, I guess." He shrugged, smiling. "I have no idea how to be a good husband or a good dad. Honestly, I've never even been in a relationship that's lasted as long as this. To get past the beginning and still want to be with each other is all new territory for me. And you know what?" He took her hands in his. "I'm excited, and I'm happy because all this is happening with you, and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's scary but in a good way, you know? And I want you to know that with time, I'll figure stuff about marriage and parenthood. I _do_ want to give you the life you want, but I _can't_ get there alone." He sighed and looked down at their interlinked hands, then up at Erza's attentive, albeit emotional, face.

"I'm not the best at this," he told her. "Not by a long shot. But I'm trying, okay? So be patient with me because I think I'm capable of doing this."

Erza responded by barrelling into his chest and wrapping her arms around him as the hall erupted in applause, whistling and sobbing. Gray was stunned momentarily.

"I know you are," Erza told him. "Same for me, honestly. I'm figuring it out as I go along, too."

Chuckling, Gray returned the embrace. "Lend me any books on babies you might have." Then he turned and glared at Loke. "And _no_ , asshole, you don't get to _call_ Godfather."

Erza laughed giddily into his chest at that. As far as Gray was concerned, the world was a little bit more right than it was when he'd woken up, and that was good enough.

* * *

"Did you ever realise that a house is just a place where you keep your stuff?" Gray asked Erza as she stepped out of the shower. She looked at him incredulously.

"What?"

"No, think about it. A house is a place to keep your stuff. If you didn't have stuff, you wouldn't need a house."

"That is... a fairly true assessment."

Gray nodded to himself. "Have you also realised that your shit is stuff and other peoples' stuff is shit?"

Erza laughed as she dried her hair. "Is there a point to this, or are you free associating?"

While she could requip anytime she wanted, Erza still kept some of her things at Gray's place. A toothbrush, a few spare clothes, a towel or two, a sword here and there. Normal, everyday things. Gray always made room for those but this was getting ridiculous.

So he'd decided to bring this up. And after two weeks of planning, he'd finally acted.

Gray got up and walked over to her. "Well, I was just wondering..."

"Hmm?"

"Where d'you keep all your stuff?"

"Pocket dimension."

"Huh. So you don't need stuff lyin' around all over the place," he said cautiously. "Technically speaking."

She looked at him. "Not really. I can just summon whatever I need."

"So you don't need palatial suites to live or anything, right?"

"No."

"So, I was thinking..."

"Gray, is this about the underwear I left at your place last week?"

"What? No, no. Nothing like that. I was just thinking what it'd be like if all your stuff was here."

"Then I'd be going back and forth all the time," she replied, tilting her head left and right as she considered it. "Wouldn't make much sense."

"Okay." Gray sighed. "How about we live together? Does _that_ make sense?"

Erza immediately ceased all action. "Live together?" she asked uncertainly. "We didn't talk about this. Are you sure?"

"Well, I _am_ asking, so."

She immediately threw her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist, laughing mirthfully. Gray couldn't help but chuckle at that.

" _Yes_ ," she replied eventually when he stopped spinning her around and let her down. She looked really happy as she said it. "Yes, Gray. I would love that."

"I would, too." He kissed her gently. "It's been a year, you know? About time we took the next step."

"I could have waited."

"Well, _I_ was tired. Now we can totally be naked all the time."

"Gray..."

"It wasn't the only motivational factor, I swear!"

* * *

Gray knew it was only a matter of time. He had known this could happen. He had thought about it endlessly. What had kept him from acting when he knew it was a very real possibility, he didn't know. Almost a year had passed since Erza had moved in with in. More than two since the first time they'd gotten together. They were happy, but things never stayed the same for too long.

Two years was a long time, and he should've seen it coming.

It had all started so normally. So innocently. She made dinner. His favourites. She did that at least four times a year. Nothing suspicious about that. But she was tense. He should've noticed her body language, sensed that something was off.

One minute they were eating and laughing, the next she was on her knees, holding up a ring.

And all Gray could do was gawk wordlessly.

"Gray," she began, smile firmly in place but voice shaky. "In all my life, I never thought I would be so lucky." She sniffed. "As to fall in love with my best-" She covered her mouth with her hands and then flapped them in an effort to regain composure. He saw her tearing up and felt himself tear up as a result. "To fall in love with my best-" She stopped again, and when she spoke again, her voice was too heavy to be understandable. "There's a reason why girls don't do this!"

 _It's your time, Fullbuster! Take the spotlight! Slay the demon! Marry the princess! Make it or break it, kid! Wax on, wax off! The Force is with you! Erza: the final frontier! Freedom!_

He fell to his knees and took her hands in his, sniffling as he did so.

 _If you screw up now after that pep talk, Imma thump you._

"Okay, okay," he said quickly. The words came to him without him even having to think about it.

"I thought," he began, but choked up immediately. He held up a finger. "I can, I can do this."

Erza laughed through the sniffing and nodded. Gray swallowed the lump in his throat.

"I thought that it mattered what I said, and where I said it." He looked at her, ignoring the fact that his eyes decided to leak without his permission. At least he could see her face clearly. "But then I realised that the only thing that mattered was that you make me happier than I ever thought I could be."

He looked at the ring in her hands. It was a simple silver band. No stones. He loved it.

But it wouldn't do. So he took his hands away from hers, and squished his palms together.

"And if you let me," he said as gentle white light radiated from between the gaps of his fingers. "I will spend the rest of my life trying to make you feel the same way."

He held the ice ring between his thumb and forefinger and took her left hand. The ring was cold, but it would have to do for now. Erza chuckled when she saw it, so he figured she wouldn't mind it much.

"So, Erza Scarlet, will you marry me?"

"Yes."

* * *

"Well," Gray said, hands on hips, after the last box was unpacked. "That's that."

"Mhmm." Erza came and stood beside him, putting an arm around his waist. "That's that."

The house was a bit pricey – real estate was always tricky – but it was a good investment. It was a good neighbourhood, and not too far from the city. Two stories, plenty of space, lots of sunlight. There was no pool, but there _was_ a lawn, and a little winding road dotted with oak trees that led down to a stream. It was nice and quiet, something Gray had no problem with.

"Marriage, house," Erza said, looking around the living room. "Not bad."

"We're growing up," Gray replied. "Now all we need is kids and we're adults."

"Yes. About that."

Gray looked at her. She was smiling.

"Wait, what?"

"Welcome to an adult relationship. Is it everything you hoped and dreamed it would be?"

Gray said nothing. Erza placed her hand on his chest.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," he replied after a while. "Just thinking what colour I should paint the swing set Imma build."

There was no fear now. There was no room for it. Not anymore.

As he picked up his giggling wife bridal style and peppered her face with kisses, the only thing Gray Fullbuster felt was excitement.

The good things had only started happening. And they would enjoy every moment that came their way.


	6. Chapter 6

**Assassin-Spy AU**

"The cult's name is Avatar," Erza began handing him her findings. Gray flipped through the pages. There were a _lot_ of pages. He set them down to read through later. "Their leader, or Priest, goes by the name Arlock. No intel on what he looks like."

"They've proclaimed themselves as the successors to the Balam Alliance," Jellal added. "They worship Zeref, and go to every depth imaginable to do so."

Gray didn't even look at him, keeping his eyes fixed on Erza.

"Usually, we would apprehend one of the grunts, get to the big fish through the small fish," she said with a grimace. "But Arlock and his lieutenants are too well insulated."

Gray scanned her face, staying silent while turning the gears in his head. There was only one reason why Erza would ask him for help, and it wasn't for firepower. She and Jellal could take most dark guilds by themselves.

"You need someone inside," he said finally. "You want _me_ to go under."

"You'd be the perfect recruit-"

"Shut up," Gray told Jellal quietly while keeping his gaze on Erza, who bit her lip in momentary uncertainty before stepping up.

"As Jellal said, you would be the perfect recruit," she told him. "They are... an expanding business, and are on the lookout for potential recruits to help further their cause. You, a former Fairy Tail mage with Devil Slayer magic, would be too tempting to pass up."

"Your history with Deliora might present some problems," Jellal said and Gray finally turned his attention to him. "You have documented conflict with one of Zeref's demons. They'll be privy to it. As a Zeref cult, that'll be a roadblock."

Without a word, Gray turned back to Erza. Then he asked, "What would I hafta do, exactly?"

"You would have to get close enough to identify Arlock and get intel on the structure and reach of the organisation. And here's the endgame." She held out a folder to him, which he took and opened. "This is an arrest warrant for Arlock, signed by the King himself. It's solid and was issued about a year ago. It was not executed because we can't identify or find him."

"But _you_ can. If recruited, you might get close enough to signal us in. You see Arlock, you call us in and we'll take him down." Jellal paused. "We'll set you up with all you need, don't worry."

There was urgency in his tone, and Gray didn't respond as he read the entire warrant.

"If Gray _does_ get recruited, he could be taken anywhere," Erza said finally. "I don't like that."

"Why don't you just go in and take them down?" Gray asked Erza before Jellal could respond. "Would be simpler."

"Because we want Arlock. The grunts are matter-of-course." Jellal shrugged. "We need the head of the snake. That's why we need someone inside to give us the signal to get Arlock."

"We need to think about this," Erza said decisively as Gray leaned back in his chair, now leafing through Erza's notes. She'd been very thorough, putting a lot of effort into the report, though her handwriting had not improved much. She must have wanted to take down Avatar pretty badly. "I am _not_ going to order him to do anything with a risk factor like you're talking about here. So give us a day or two and we'll get back to you with an answer."

Jellal raised his hands, palms out. "Absolutely. I just called this meeting to make my pitch. The rest is up to you."

He got up to leave the small inn room they'd been sitting in, but Gray stopped him with three words.

"I'll do it."

Jellal turned and looked at him. "Are you sure?"

Before he could answer, Erza jumped in. "Gray, we should take our time and gather our options. This is dangerous–"

"Gimme a coupla days to get ready," Gray told her. "I'll give it a shot." He looked at Jellal. "When do we start?"

"Friday," he replied. "That'll give us time to sort out logistics and see about a shadow team. Prep you."

"I've gone UC before." Gray held up Erza's notes. "I've got all the prep right here."

Erza shook her head before turning to Jellal. "I want full coverage on him. Whatever, whenever. If anything happens en route I want to be close enough to act. I don't want him out there without backup."

"He won't be. We'll have him covered at all times."

"What about after he gets recruited?"

"He'll be on his own until we can set up communications and establish location. After that, we'll be close enough to act upon getting the signal."

That ended the questions from Erza, but she still frowned. Jellal turned to Gray again.

"Friday?"

"Friday."

After he left, Erza exhaled deeply and sat down on the corner of the bed. She ran her fingers through her hair and then fixed Gray with a glare.

"I still feel you should think about this. Any second thoughts and we pull out."

Gray shook his head. "You called me here because you needed my help. So I'm helping." Then he smiled. "And you should know me well enough by now that I'm too thick for even a single thought, let alone seconds."

Erza was not amused. "Gray..."

"Erza, do you, or do you not want these assholes put away?"

"Yes, but-"

"And this is the most expedient way of doing that?"

She sighed. "Yes."

"Then we're doing it."

Erza looked at him for a few seconds. He could tell she was turning things over in her head. Finally, she nodded.

"Okay, Gray. I'm behind you one hundred percent."

* * *

Gray moved down the aisle, looking at inflatable pillows. His partner, Reynard, was at the counter of the store, speaking in hushed tones with the proprietor. A week in and this was his daily routine. They went out, shook down shops, recruited homeless people to run drugs for them. It was grunt work, but one always had to climb ladders in these sorts of situations. Building trust was essential.

The store wasn't deserted. There was a clerk mopping the floor while two other customers gathered things into baskets. Gray was considering buying an inflatable pillow when the door opened, causing a bell to chime, and another customer walked in. Gray glanced at the door, scanning the newest addition for threats, but glanced away when he saw that it was Erza.

She browsed the items on sale as Gray monitored both her and Reynard, who was still busy talking. Eventually, Erza went and stood beside him, taking a pillow in her hands and turning it over.

"How're you doing, Gray?" she asked in a low voice without looking at him.

"I'm good. What're you doing here?"

"Needed to check. We had no eyes on you for a week."

Gray took a deep breath. "Are you _fucking_ shitting me?" he hissed as quietly as he could. "He said there'd be a shadow team."

"There was, but they lost you after they took you to the station. Jellal lost his head about that. Where were you taken?"

"Malba. They have a train, Erza. Use it to transport drug mules from city to city. We ride it every day, hitting most of the towns, escorting the mules."

She nodded. "And you are okay?"

"I am, but I almost wasn't. They had me strip naked and played ping-pong with my nuts to make sure I wasn't some UC guy."

Erza sighed and put the pillow back. "I'm sorry, Gray. Do you want out? I give the word and we'll swarm this place and pull you out, make it look like a bust."

"Nah. But I want you to do something else. Who's out there with you?"

"Jellal and Sawyer. We were eating out fingernails all week but we have you now and won't drop the ball."

Gray looked at Reynard again. He was now pointing at the guy behind the counter. They seemed to be arguing.

"Okay. After we're out of here, there'll be another pair here tomorrow. Have someone swing by on random enforcement and bust them."

"Okay. Why?"

"The more people they're down, the more important I become. Maybe they'll think twice about playing ping-pong with me again."

"Okay, we'll do that, but that'll pull surveillance off you."

"Didn't have it for a week. One day won't matter."

"Don't be absurd. I'll make sure that at least Jellal stays with you. And here, take this."

She pulled out her purse as if counting money for the pillow and held up a small lacrima communication device between her index and middle finger. Gray took it and shoved it into his pocket.

"Be very careful to not get seen or heard when you call," she told him. "I'll be available anytime."

"Right."

"Now I have to go buy a pillow. Take care of yourself, Gray."

"I'll try."

* * *

"Hello."

"Hey."

"Gray, do you have something to report?"

"Yeah. They want to make me a full member."

"...when?"

"I don't know. But there'll be a test and a ceremony."

"Will Arlock be at this ceremony?"

"Probably. I'll keep you posted. Later."

"Gray-"

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine."

"...okay."

"Take care of yourself, Erza."

* * *

"Gray, you've missed your last two check-ins, what's going on? Are you okay?"

"...yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Write this down."

"Just a moment... okay, go on."

"Remember the day we talked? You bought a pillow."

"Yes."

"The owner of the shop. His name is Vito Castagnoli. He's been an associate of Avatar. Gets paid to look the other way. He sells prescription drugs wholesale. He has a wife and two sons, so cash is tight."

"Okay."

"His eldest son, Michael, is a good boy. Naive and dumb, but good. He straight up told the Avatar goons that their shop was not for sale. Father and son had a falling out. The father knows that he's gonna pay for that, but the son refuses to betray his morals."

"I see."

"My test is to kill them. Both father and son. The hit's been scheduled for this Friday."

"Specifics?"

"I don't know yet. But I'll do it alone."

"What do you want us to do?"

"I want you to get the whole family out of here. I want them gone without a trace. Outside Fiore if you can."

"Understood."

"That's it. I'm out."

"Okay. See you Friday."

* * *

Erza shot up from the rock she'd been sitting on as soon as Gray stepped through the brush. Without a word, she came up and enveloped him in a tight hug which knocked the air out of him. Gray put his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him and held her there as she rubbed his back.

It had been a week since the hit, but they'd spent all of ten seconds together during the hand-off before he'd had to go. This was the first time he'd had prolonged physical contact with her after going undercover.

At long last, Erza let go of him and held him at arm's length to appraise him. She frowned as she looked him over.

"You look like a wreck."

Gray smiled. He saw what she was looking at every day. He'd lost a lot of weight and it showed. The bags under his eyes would be going nowhere fast. She was right on the money. He _was_ a wreck.

"Whatever gave me away?"

"Gray, don't joke. Are you all right? What happened to you?"

He shrugged. "Don't you want to know why I asked to meet first?"

"I want to know how you're doing first. You look like you've been hit by a famine."

 _Where do I begin_ , he thought as he sat down on the grass. Erza sat right across from him.

"I guess it's a mix of the sleeplessness, the starvation and the drugs."

" _Drugs_?!"

He shrugged again. "In a crew where everyone uses them, I'll blow my cover if I refuse. There's no choice."

"But there are-"

"Time-release additives by the manufacturer?" He shook his head. "They crush the pills and snort them. Renders the additives useless."

Erza said nothing for a while. Then she licked her lips. "And what about the starvation and sleeplessness?"

"Those are related. I usually skip dinner so the hunger keeps me awake."

"But why?"

"It's a pit of snakes, Erza. I can't close my eyes for five minutes at a stretch. Three assholes tried to shank me in the first week alone."

"But now?"

"Now not so much, but I don't trust them."

Erza sighed. "Gray, do you want to-"

"No. I can't. Not now. That'll waste all this effort."

"All right. So what do you have for me?"

"Locations of chapters and branches of Avatar." He took out a folded piece of paper from the inside pocket of his coat and handed it to her. "Sadly, no Arlock yet."

"This is good enough," Erza told him as she pocketed the note after scanning it quickly. "We can target one chapter, arrest a grunt and bring down the whole branch."

"That'd be a significant blow, yes. That might even net me another promotion. They'll want strong people in their core squad."

"Speaking of which, how went the ceremony?"

"Oh, that." Gray took off his coat and his shirt and pointed at his right pectoral, which now sported the mark of Avatar where his Fairy Tail emblem once was.

Erza nodded to herself. "We'll get that tattoo removed once you're done."

"It's not a tattoo," Gray said off-handedly as he put his shirt back on. "It's a brand."

" _What_?!"

"Yeah, they had a branding iron and all that. Real theatrical. Chanting and felt like a cult ceremony."

He chuckled, but Erza wasn't amused. She sat chewing her lip and Gray didn't have the words to comfort her. So he got up.

"I have to be getting back now," he told her. "It's been good seeing you, Erza."

"Gray."

"Hmm?"

"Please take care of yourself."

"I will."

* * *

The old, rundown church in the middle of Mikage forest was probably the worst place Gray had ever been. Not because it was in shambles, neither because it was the main headquarters of Avatar. He'd seen places in worse states of disrepair.

He just didn't like what the ruins contained.

There was a nude woman lying on a threadbare couch to the left side of the room he was in. Her face and body were turned in toward the rear cushions and she appeared to be asleep or unconscious. Gray couldn't see her face, but it didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on. They had most likely drugged her, raped her, and left her unclothed on the couch. Gray believed anyone who did that was capable of the same casualness when it came to murder. He leaned his head down for a moment as he filled with revulsion.

Gray had seen the worst of what humans could do to one another. But by the time he was a witness, the crime had been committed and the suffering was over. Every case left its psychological mark but it was balanced by the fulfilment of justice. He didn't solve every case, but there was still accomplishment in giving every case his best effort.

But when you went undercover, you moved from the safe confines of justice done and entered the world of the depraved. You saw how humans preyed on one another, and there was nothing you could do about it without blowing cover. You had to take it in and live with it to see the case through. Gray wanted to save that woman from another minute of abuse, but he couldn't. Not now. There was a greater justice he was looking for.

Mary, the Avatar lieutenant who had been giving him the tour, now smiled at him.

"Fuck her," she said cheerfully.

Gray gave her a long look. "Why?"

"I'm recommending you to Arlock. I have to be sure that you're not a queer."

He wanted to reach out and smash her face in, but he settled for tilting his head and smirking. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Do it and you'll be told."

Gray shook his head. "I don't have to prove a goddamn thing to you."

"Oh no, not to me. To Lord Zeref."

"Well he ain't here right now, is he?"

Her eyes hardened at that, though her smile didn't falter. "You will not make light of him, Fullbuster."

"I'll do whatever I want. You asked me here. You need me in your ranks. I can refuse and walk right out."

"Then you'll never get the precious Book of E. N. D. you've been searching for."

Gray remained silent. That was his objective for entering, as far as they knew. She had cornered him. Mary smiled sweetly.

"So now I'll watch you fuck her and prove you're no queer. Infidels have no place in the Inner Circle."

He looked from her to the woman on the sofa and felt his stomach turn.

* * *

"Hello."

"..."

"Gray?"

"Yeah. Hey."

"Report?"

"I got pushed up to lieutenant."

"You met Arlock?"

"Yes."

"Then your job is done. We're pulling you out."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Bigger things going on. Meet me tomorrow and I'll tell you."

"Gray, I'm-"

"I gotta go."

* * *

As soon as Gray reached the rendezvous, he knew something was up.

"Were you followed?"

Gray answered with a question of his own. "Where's Erza?"

"She's currently in a meeting with the Rune Knights in Crocus, discussing plans of attack," Jellal replied. "Did she not tell you I was coming in her stead?"

"No."

"Is that a problem?"

"No."

"Then tell me what you have."

Gray hesitated just a moment before telling him what he'd learnt of Project Purification, where the entire populace of Malba was to be massacred as a sacrifice to Zeref. Jellal sat on a rock and listened to it all and nodded.

"Any idea about the time frame?"

"Not, but soon. Sometime within the next month."

"I see. We're pulling you out."

"Why?" he asked, anger flashing through his system. "I need to stay here. I can misdirect and delay them. I'm in."

Jellal shook his head. "Gray, you've been in deep cover for half a year. You need out. You need rest, rehabilitation and a psychological analysis."

"Fuck you, Fernandes, _I'm_ the one in there! This should be _my_ call!"

"Erza wants you out."

That stopped his tirade and Gray turned away, scowling.

"Is that not why you took the assignment? Because she asked for your help?"

"Shut up."

"But am I wrong?" Gray didn't answer. "The main reason why you're doing this is because you love her."

He turned very slowly and levelled an icy glare at the man seated calmly on the rock.

"Pick your next words _very_ carefully," Gray said through clenched teeth.

"I do too," Jellal said, looking down at his lap. "That's the truth. I do love her. But... I also killed one of my best friends with my own hands. I even tried to kill her." He sat silently for a while. "Nothing I do will ever change that fact. Knowing that, knowing what I did, I can't even bring myself to hold her. Not with these same hands. They're too unclean. I can't do it."

Gray closed his eyes and turned away, shaking his head. He hated the fact that he knew what Jellal was talking about.

"So I try my best to stay out of her way, because I can't do it. I just can't." A pause. "But _you_ can. And I want to get you out before you do something that you can't come back from. If she's with someone who can keep her happy, I'd be the happiest man in the world."

Gray took a deep, steadying breath. "You're a bit too late for that."

"What?"

"You have no idea... the things I've had to do," he said slowly and quietly. "As for you, stop being so fucking selfish."

"Excuse me?"

"Whether or not she wants to be with you is _her_ choice," Gray said, rounding upon him. "Not mine, not yours. _Hers_. If you want her to stop, tell her clearly. Stop with this tortured soul and selfless sacrifice bullshit. Your decision alleviates only your _own_ guilt. It does _fuck all_ to resolve the situation."

"I _don't_ deserve her."

"You're goddamn right. But it's her choice. And that won't happen unless she has a reason to move forward. In this case, you making up your fucking mind."

"What would you do were you in my place, Gray?" he asked, clenching his fists in frustration. "What would you do?"

Gray scoffed. "I _wish_ I was. I _wish_ she looked at me the way she looks at you."

"If you say it's too late, whatever you've done, aren't you doing the same thing as me? Self sacrifice to alleviate your own guilt?"

With a shake of his head and a sigh, Gray trudged over to the rock and sat down tiredly beside Jellal.

"I can't because she only has eyes for you," he replied. "I love her, and I hate you for making her suffer, but I don't wanna force myself into this mess until both she and I are sorted out." He shook his head again, chuckling darkly. "And that ain't gonna happen anytime soon."

Never in his life did Gray ever think he'd be having this conversation, let alone any conversation, with Jellal Fernandes. For the longest time, the only regret he'd had was the fact that it hadn't been _him_ who got to punch the fuck outta the blue haired bastard at the Tower. The thought still made him bristle.

"So what you're saying is if Erza is willing to have you someday, you'd be willing too?"

"I dunno. I don't write the future. I might be dead by the time that rolls around."

"But?"

"But... that would be the best day of my life."

Silence fell between them, and Gray let his thoughts wander. They invariably returned to the conversation that had just ended. Despite himself, he felt a strange sort of kinship with the man seated beside him, also deep in thought. They had common ground in that they both wanted the best for Erza, and that was at least something Gray could respect.

"I'm sorry, Gray," Jellal said at length. "This mission messed you up badly. I didn't think it'd mess you up the same way I am."

"Nobody could've anticipated that. Not everything's your fault, asshole. You're not _that_ important." Gray looked down at his palm. "True, these hands are too unclean for her now, and we're similar in thinking that. But there is a major difference between us."

"What's that?"

"I am not what I have done," Gray said as he rose to his feet. "I am what I will do. And I will _not_ let this hold me back. It'll take me time to unfuck my head, but I'll get there."

Jellal said nothing. Gray looked back over his shoulder.

"I'm going back to work. I don't ever want you here instead of her again."

In the end, it didn't matter what had happened in the past. The past existed to give one context, knowledge and anxiety. Nothing more, nothing less. Gray didn't know what the future had in store for anyone. He wasn't an optimist, but that didn't stop him from hoping.

* * *

The mission was over. Avatar would not rear its head again. His road to recovery had only just begun.

The first thing was to get him off the drugs, and Gray himself had had a brilliant suggestion on how to do that.

 _Put me in a room with a week's worth of provisions and nail the door in. Don't open before a week has passed._

They'd done exactly that. Gray had slept through the first day. He only started hitting the wall at night.

"Anyone out there?" he asked hoarsely as he pounded on the door, room spinning. "Anyone?"

"Gray? Gray, I'm here, what is it?"

Erza. It was her. She was outside. She was good. She'd help him.

"Let me out. Please, let me out."

"I... I can't."

"The fuck d'you mean, you can't?" He pounded on the door, suddenly seething. "Am I in jail again? You assholes gonna tie me up and break my fingers again, I ain't tellin' you shit!"

"No, Gray, you aren't in jail." A long pause. "But you can't leave yet."

"The fuck you talkin' about? I needta go, man. I _need_ to."

"Gray..."

"You don't understand." He hugged himself. The shakes were coming. "What're you doin' to me?"

"I'm trying to help you, Gray. Remember Avatar? They're all gone. You saved a lot of lives. But you're still in the hole."

Gray shook his head and beat the door with his forehead. "I needta go _now_ , man."

"Where? There's nowhere to go, but we can help you here."

"What do you have? I need it."

"No, not like that. I mean, _really_ help you. Get you off this addiction and out of this life."

He shrieked with laughter, a short sharp burst.

"You think you can save me? You think you're the only one who's ever tried?" He sat down on the floor and put his back against the door. " _Fuck_ you. I can't be saved. I don't wanna be saved."

"I think you do. Deep down, everybody does."

"No, please. Just... just let me go."

"I know it's going to be rough. A week in this room, it will probably feel like a year. I'm not going to lie to you about anything."

Gray pulled his knees up and rocked back and forth. The room was doing the jig. If he didn't move, he'd lose his balance and fall. He didn't like falling. It hurt.

There was a long pause before the voice came again. "I'll be sitting outside this door all week. I'm here for you, Gray."

"Please, I can't."

"Yes, you can. But you've got to want it. Deep down. You have to know that you are in the abyss and that you want to climb out."

A sudden spike of rage coursed through him and he thumped the ground with his fist.

"Take your preaching and stick it up your ass, okay? You don't know what it's like! You don't know... you don't know a fucking thing." Gray buried his face between his knees and covered his head with his hands. "I bathed thrice a day, soap, shampoo, all that. Unclean. Unclean. Gods, what have I done, what have I done..."

"You're right," came the voice after a while. Soft. Pained. "I don't know. But I trust you, and I know this: whatever you've done, you can carry that weight through the withdrawal. Then you can share it with me, okay? It'll be easier to carry."

"No," he moaned as the tears came, shaking his body.

"I _will_ help you. But you have to gut it out and you've got to want to."

"I'm _telling_ you, _nothing_ works! I _can't_ be saved!"

"Look, I know you lost somebody. I know it can drive you down into a hole. But think of Ur. Is this the end she would want for you?"

Gray said nothing.

"Of course it's not," the voice said. "It's not what she would want."

"Please," he said. "I want to go now."

"Gray, just tell me you want this to end. Give me the nod and we'll get through it."

"I don't even know you!" he screamed.

"You're right," the voice said, remaining calm. "But I know there is something better than this for you. Tell me you want it. For Ur. For me."

"I want to go."

"There's nowhere to go. This is it."

"Fuck."

"Stay here, Gray. Say you want to try."

Gray leaned his head back against the door and closed his eyes. He was tired, defeated.

"Come on," Erza said. "For me. It's time."

It was Erza. Erza would be out there all week. He trusted Erza. Erza was good. She wouldn't hurt him.

"Okay," he said. "I'll try."

* * *

"Gray?" Her voice was gentle, but it still felt like nails on a chalkboard to him. "Gray, are you awake?"

He was, but he didn't move. He couldn't even if he wanted to. Most days he didn't even feel like getting out of bed. Food turned to shit in his mouth and he just didn't see the point anymore.

Withdrawal had caused him to chew through his nails, rip his hair out and scratch and pound on the door till his hands bled, but he'd come out clean. That had been the easy part. What came after was what almost killed him.

It wasn't so much the memories of what he'd seen and done that had smashed his will, but all the memories of instances where he _could_ have done something, but _didn't_. Rationalising it did no good. The voice inside his head refused reason.

 _You could've saved that woman, but you wanted to fuck her, didn't you? You couldn't have Erza, so was she a substitute? Were you just looking for a hole?_

 _You could've helped all those boys and girls with their addiction had you called in the cavalry on day one. But you wanted to show Erza how good you were, right? Rub it in Jellal's face? Didn't matter how many lives you ruined in the process._

 _You will never have her. She despises you. She can't even look at you. She knows what you did. They all do._

 _How do you live with yourself?_

 _You deserve to die._

All day. Every day. Over and over. There was no way to tune it out, no way to tone down the volume. There was nothing. Nothing made sense. Nothing.

But he still got out of bed every day. Made himself eat. Shaved. Bathed. Went for a jog. Read books. Listened to a little music.

All because of her. All because he was tired of seeing her sad. But it was hard sometimes.

So when she repeated her question and asked whether he wanted her to leave, he shook his head and tenderly put his hand over hers.

"Stay," he said without opening his eyes. "I just need rest."

Every day, she came without fail. Helped him should he need it. She came to keep him company. Cooked for him. Sometimes, she even read to him. Her voice was the one constant through it all that he could lean on for support.

"Okay," came her voice. "I'm right here."

Jellal had been right. He had done it for her. There was no denying it. _But_...

Gray gave her hand a little squeeze. "I couldn't have done it without you."

"What do you mean? Done what?"

"I kept sane every week because I knew I had to call you and check-in. I focused on that. It centred me. Your voice... you have a really nice voice."

"Gray, are you-"

"You gave me the strength to do everything I have ever done since I met you," he told her flatly and opened his eyes. She was sitting on the edge of his bed, looking down at him. "Without you, I wouldn't be half of what I am. You inspired me, had faith in me, trusted me, and all this gave me confidence. Told me I was worth something, you know? Still does."

He reached up and stroked her cheek gently, caressing her hair.

"You're one of those people I've always wanted to make proud," he continued. "I can never repay all that you've done for me, Erza. Can't even hope to begin. So let me just say that I love you. None of this is because of you. Don't feel bad. This isn't your fault."

Hot tears fell on his nose and cheek, and he brushed them away from her face with his thumb.

"Please don't be sad," he whispered.

Erza responded by leaning down and pressing her lips to his forehead.

"You are a wonderful human being, Gray," she whispered and kissed his cheek. "I hope you know that and understand how much you mean to me. I could not bear to lose you. For any reason. Least of all because of my own errors in judgement."

As she sat up and dried her eyes with her sleeves, Gray sat himself up and swung his feet over the side of the bed.

 _I am not what I have done but what I will do._

That was what he had told Jellal. Now it was time to live up to it.

"Hey," he said and she looked over. "I want to go out."

"Really?" She looked both shocked and cautiously optimistic. "Where?"

"Anywhere. The walls are closing in on me. I just wanna go for a stroll. Maybe get some coffee." He smiled. "Or cake. The sweetness might help me taste things again."

Erza smiled back. "It might. I keep telling you to try cake, but you never listen."

"Might as well," Gray replied and stood up. He then held out his hand to her somewhat hesitantly and said, "Do you wanna come with me?"

"Of course," she replied immediately and took his hand. "Like a date?"

"Yeah," he replied after some thought. "Exactly like a date. Maybe just what I need."

He would get through this. He knew that for a fact. And he wouldn't let it stop him from at least taking the first step.

 _Up yours, Fernandes._


	7. Chapter 7

**First Kisses**

Why Erza was so in love with her cakes, Gray would never know. They were much too sweet, criminally so, and they did your teeth no favours. And yet, the woman consumed more strawberry cake than a pubescent teen consumed porn. Not that _he_ would know anything about _that_.

Smut, again, was Erza's territory. The postman sometimes delivered her magazines to him and that was the extent of his exposure to her stash. One day, though, he would find and catalogue every bit of porn she had.

 _Unless she has a catalogue already_ , he thought with a grimace. _Alphabetical, chronological, cross-referenced and colour-coded, probably_. He shook his head and turned to Erza, who was seated beside him in a booth at the cake shop, sucking the cake off her spoon, her eyes closed and a happy smile on her face.

"You are _so_ cute," he found himself saying without meaning to. No sooner did the words leave his mouth did he freeze up. "Uhh. I meant." Erza turned and blinked at him, still sucking on her spoon. "Never mind."

"I believe it is normal for someone to find their girlfriend cute," Erza commented with a tilt of her head. "Why does that embarrass you?"

"It's not... it's embarrassing to say, okay?" Gray helplessly flipped his palms. "Especially in public."

"Do you disapprove of public displays of affection, Gray?"

"Ehh. I don't wanna see people sucking face while I'm going somewhere, y'know?"

"Why does that bother you?"

"I get embarrassed and uncomfortable, okay?" He shrugged. "I wouldn't want people looking at me while I'm... doing stuff like that."

"I see." Erza nodded. "You like privacy."

"I guess."

"Maybe you'll get more comfortable with it with practice?"

Gray chuckled nervously. "Whaddaya mean, pract-"

He froze again when he felt her lips caress his cheek, like a gentle autumn breeze picking up the dry leaves and spinning them around in a whirlwind. It threatened to carry his heart out of its cage along for the ride. It was the most indescribably pleasant feeling albeit a tad confusing: it filled his body with joy but also made him want to kill himself.

So Gray buried his face in his palm and sat there, unsure of how to respond. He heard Erza chuckle.

"It has been a month, Gray. This was long overdue."

While Gray didn't know whether first kisses were supposed to have _this_ effect, he was certain that something which felt so good couldn't be completely bad.

 _I can actually get used to this._

She was right, of course. It _had_ been a month. Most couples would've done _way_ more than just kissing by this point.

 _Wimp. Chicken. Chicken-man. You kept her waiting so long she had to take action herself!_

Gray took solace in the fact that she didn't take inspiration from her porn books and do something drastic. Like bring out her ill-famed Seduction Armour.

The thought jolted him out of inaction and he leant back into his seat with a sigh. Erza eyed him mischievously.

"Oh, are you alive again? I was wondering whether I would have to call a hearse."

Gray sighed again and patted her head.

"You're much too like a cat. Gimme a heads-up before you pounce, will ya?"

"Meow," Erza said. Gray turned to look at her and she pawed at his nose playfully with a balled fist. Then she smiled and returned to her cake. "No, doesn't feel natural."

 _Just kill me already!_

Fighting the urge to hide his face in his palm again, Gray thought back to how fortune always favoured the bold.

 _Be bold, Fullbuster! Step forth into the cute with your chest puffed out and head held high! Come back victorious!_

So Gray dropped his arm from her head and put it around her shoulders and pulled her close. Erza looked at him curiously.

"Gray?"

In response, he cupped her cheek with his free hand and gently pressed his lips to hers.

"You are much too adorable for your own good," he whispered as he pulled away slightly, brushing his thumb along her cheekbone. Though she was blushing, she smiled into the next kiss and placed her hands on his shoulders.

People would probably look. They would probably be embarrassed and annoyed and amused. Gray knew that.

He also knew that he didn't really care.


	8. Chapter 8

**Bonus**

"I will beat the dicks out of your noob ass, Bitchbuster."

"Do your worst, Slutlet."

So Erza hit him with a _hadouken_ and knocked him out. As Gray gripped his controller, fuming sourly, Erza put hers down gently and tossed her hair in victorious grace.

"You asked," she said smugly as Gray tossed away the controller and leaned back into the sofa. Erza swung her legs onto the sofa, folded them one atop the other and placed her chin on Gray's shoulder. "What was the score this time?" She bumped him with her shoulder. "I didn't keep count."

"31-19," Gray replied with a sigh. Erza hummed.

"So maybe after two years of practice, you'll finally be able to tie with me."

"I hate you."

"I love you too," she replied cheerfully and kissed his cheek. Gray's shoulders sagged as he embraced the pity kiss of defeat. They were still Erza's lips, and that was something he wouldn't say no to.

Playing games together wasn't really something that happened often for them. Work got in the middle of everything, but Sundays existed for a reason. Sundays were their days and when they were too lazy to go out, Gray got the console out and much swearing ensued.

Games always brought out the worst of Erza's competitive spirit. If she didn't win (she mostly won, thankfully), she got all sullen and miserable and her determination levels skyrocketed. That always spelled massacre for Gray. Why he continued to subject himself to humiliation after humiliation, he didn't know.

 _Oh, right. I have no dignity._

"I feel like we are always playing against each other," Erza said. "Do you have no games where we are on the same side, Gray?"

"Hmm. Well, there _are_ a few..."

"Is there a problem?"

"It's a fantasy rpg, and I dunno if you-"

"I _live_ for fantasy!" Erza declared passionately, thumping the sofa with her fist. Gray believed her. "Put it in and turn it on!"

"That's what she said," he commented quietly as he got up to fetch the game, grinning to himself. Erza threw a cushion at his butt.

"Your sense of humour is deteriorating."

"Hey, it's an evergreen joke, okay?"

"For twelve-year-olds."

"Yeah, yeah."

"This is a two player game?" she asked as the game loaded up. Gray nodded.

"It's designed to have two player co-op. If you play alone, you get to control both players."

"There are two protagonists?"

"Mhmm."

Erza rubbed her palms together, smiling. "I shall like this."

And it was clear from the character creation menu that she did indeed like it. Erza spent about an hour customising her character. She chose to play a female knight with long, red hair, heavy armour and a two-handed sword.

"What?" she asked when Gray shook his head. "I was just aiming for accuracy."

"I know, honey," he replied and kissed her temple lightly. "Just amused by your pedantic attention to detail."

Erza pouted, but looked impressed when Gray completed his character within ten minutes.

"Battlemage with a white coat," she commented. "Not accurate at all."

"What can I say? Your pedantry rubbed off on me."

"You've played before, haven't you?"

Gray nodded. "With Loke, yeah. Our characters ended up romancing each other and he wouldn't stop calling me 'husbando' for weeks."

"There is a romance option?!" Erza's eyes practically glimmered. Gray couldn't look at her directly. "It hasn't even started and I love this game already!"

"Uh-huh. Shall we?"

"Let's."

Erza was in full attention from the opening cutscene itself. Gray didn't blame her. He rather liked the game's story, and it did a good job at hooking one's attention from the get-go. When gameplay actually started, and Erza saw and moved around her character for the first time, she shook a deep breath and whispered softly under her breath: "It's so _pretty_!"

Gray said nothing, though he prepared himself for being slain by her cuteness. _I wish I could record all this._

After telling her which button did what, Erza spent a few seconds testing out the skills of the knight class. She had gone for a more tank-ish build while he would be able to provide ranged offense and support. The gameplay called for teamwork, and their respective roles would complement each other quite well.

 _Just like in real life_ , he thought as he glanced at her fondly. She looked so happy while slashing her way through rabid orcs and undead zombies. Gray wondered whether she could solo the whole campaign on her first go. He wouldn't put it past her.

"Gray!" She slapped his thigh gleefully. "There are dialogue options! Our characters can _talk to each other_! _Inside the game_! And we get to choose what we say!"

"Yeah, they discuss what decisions to take pertaining to quests," Gray replied, amused. "In case they can't come to terms, they can play stone-paper-scissors for it."

"You're pulling my leg!"

"Nawp. Wait, I'll show you."

So he did. And won. Erza didn't even seem to register the loss for she grinned widely and said, "I love this game."

Dialogue choices and in-game decisions stacked up and helped determine the character's personality. By the time they made it halfway through the game, Erza's character had a distinctly romantic outlook while Gray's was pragmatic.

 _Just like in real life._

After spending six hours on the campaign, Gray yawned and looked at Erza. She was completely absorbed. One of their allies had just betrayed them and she was muttering curses under her breath.

"What do we do for dinner?" he asked.

"I'll think about it after I lay the smack down on this bitch."

Gray snorted and reached for the phone. "I'm ordering pizza."

"Fine."

But the pizza had to wait, for within five minutes of its arrival, the final boss appeared. It was indeed a titanic battle of epic proportions, and health potions were consumed wholesale. Erza was indefatigable in her efforts, and Gray could not help but be impressed by her drive. He was most amused when after the Void Dragon was finally defeated and sealed away, Erza leapt up from her seat, thrust her hands skywards, exclaimed "Hallelujah!" and sank back into the sofa, spent.

As the ending cutscene started rolling, Gray put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek.

"We did it," he said quietly as Erza snuggled into his side.

"Mhmm. Truly a test of our bond." She wrapped her arms around his torso. "What happens to our characters?"

"There are multiple endings, but we'll be getting an epilogue soon enough."

When it came, Erza read it aloud, "Well, our saviours were fine companions, one slightly love-struck, the other a respectful friend. Many more adventures had they, side by side, slaying beasts and evil barons with ease. After battle, saviour the first would gaze affectionately at saviour the second, and in time... well, in time saviour the second began to gaze back." She smiled. "Awww. That was sweet."

"Mhmm. Just like in real life, eh?"

He'd meant it jokingly, but when Erza didn't respond, he looked down, slightly worried. Erza had her head on his shoulder and had her eyes closed. She was smiling to herself.

"Whatchyu thinkin'?" he asked her.

"Just about what you said. The game did mirror our life slightly, didn't it?"

"Only just."

"Mmm." She rubbed her cheek against his collarbone. "Thank you, Gray."

"What for?"

"Giving me a chance to be with you. Letting me prove that I can do this." She paused. "It couldn't have been easy for you."

Gray sucked in a breath and gathered his thoughts.

"No," he said. "It wasn't." He rubbed her shoulder with his thumb and kissed the top of her head. "But it was worth it."

"I'm glad you feel that way, for there is nobody better to watch my back than you." Erza sat up and took his face in her hands, smiling warmly. "Whether in a game, or in real life. You're my partner, my husband, and I love you very, very much."

In an effort to hide his blush, Gray pressed his forehead against hers. He placed his arms around her waist and kissed her slowly.

"I love you too," he replied. "Though I must confess I enjoy watching your front, too. That's where all the good stuff's at."

"You are hopeless."

"Hopelessly in love with you, yes."

Erza snorted and pulled him into another kiss, probably just to shut him and his endless supply of bad jokes up. Gray didn't complain as he gently pushed her down onto the sofa.

After all, what was the point of winning if there were no celebrations to follow?

* * *

 **A/N: A few GrayZa shippers are putting together a free-to-download fanzine to celebrate the ship. If you want to contribute, be it with fics, fanart, poems or even essays, shoot me a PM.**


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